The lovely Anne — wife, travel companion, convention partner.

Dateline: Friday night around 7-ish in downtown Chicago. Twice per year my wife Anne and I travel three hours northwest from our Indianapolis home to visit their two big comics/entertainment conventions, meet comics creators, have our photos taken with actors from some our favorite movies and TV shows, and enjoy a weekend getaway from the workaday world.

Sometimes we need moments away from the convention scene and the thousands of like-minded bodies crammed into those cavernous yet ultimately finite spaces. After a successful first day at C2E2 and checking in at our hotel, we grabbed dinner a few blocks away from Geno’s East Pizzeria, one of many renowned establishments in the Windy City and one we’ve visited in the past. It’s always busy and it’s weird at first to find yourself in a place where customers are permitted and encouraged to write on any and every available surface (you’ll note one such culprit caught in the act behind Anne), but you get used to it after a few minutes.

I’m writing this the following night, after a second straight day of nonstop, wall-to-wall pop culture immersion and overload, waiting for the last several hours’ worth of adrenaline surges to subside so I can get some rest before the long drive home Sunday. My feet and legs have yet to forgive me for sitting down only three (3) times in fourteen hours today, and I’m afraid to begin tallying up the receipts for my delighted overspending in C2E2’s always phenomenal Artists’ Alley. For now, my plan is to let the whirlwind of memories from the past two days continue swirling in my head, pivoting around the fixed point that is the light of m’lady’s inspiring, encouraging smile.

Coming soon: new stories from the convention floor, four new jazz hands photos, another stack of new books, and all the cosplay photos that’ll be fit to print. We may also share more pics of the Geno’s experience, but possibly overlook the part where the service was one-star. Otherwise for us it was a weekend full of smiles.