Cheers to 467

I'm not one for getting all emotional and sharing my feelings with people. Especially openly over the internet. But there comes a time when something extraordinary happens that you just didn't expect and the only way to get out everything in your head is to write it down. Lay it all out on the table.
So here it goes.
I expected a lot from the ONE Power 100 Summit, and I got more than that, not only from the speakers that graced us with their presence, but from the people I would come to call my friends.
Four days. That's all we had, and two of them were short lived. I didn't expect to go into this thing and come out with very many close friends. Maybe a couple aquaintances, facebook friends, and faces to those leading the scoreboards, but not people I would miss the moment we went our separate ways at the Hilton.
From the first night there was a group of about 15 of us or so that seemed to just click right off the bat. I mean, that happens when you're put in larger groups outside of your comfort zone, you tend to gravitate towards people you have things in common with. You stick together.
I just want to take the time to give a shout out, a virtual toast if you will, to those people. You guys mean the world to me, and you did that in four short days.
It's not always easy to be the leader of a group so much bigger than yourself, and it is comforting to have the support group of those going through the same thing. Literally, in your shoes. I have never been in an environment with so much energy before. There we were all working for the same cause, feeding off of one another and generating new ideas. It was impossible not to get motivated and fired up.
We may be on different campuses, but we are all working towards the same goal, and while we have our own way of getting to the end result, at the core we are all going through the same thing and a collaboration of our thoughts and actions will get us there. It's nice to know I'm not alone in this and that there will always be someone there to help along the way, especially when things aren't going as planned or no one else seems as motivated as you, or when everything just seems like too much to handle. We are eachother's rock, and no matter what, for ONE or for other causes we may support, or in life in general we will always be here. Like I told Mike, if us activists didn't help one another who would be left to advocate?

See you guys on the scoreboard. Can't wait for the reunion.

And remember, if you're in the game, you're in the game!
...whatever that means