So, the big event is coming up quickly…Attachment Parenting International’s 15th Anniversary Gathering in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. I’m very much looking forward to it, although it’ll be my first trip anywhere without my husband and kids. Known for my uncanny ability to get lost in the remotest of places – I have on more than one occasion called up my husband in a panic as I was driving around the barren countryside of Nebraska in search of a town of less than 60 people to interview one for a local newspaper article – I am more than a little nervous about trying to navigate a city as large as Nashville.
Despite these concerns, the weekend holds a lot more promise. I get to hear from experts on Attachment Parenting and parenting in general during an afternoon think-tank discussion. I get to listen to performances by country music artist Vince Gill and song writers Gary Nicholson and Mary Nielsen Chapman and their children during an evening event. I get to listen to kids music artist Roger Day. I get to meet other AP parents and their families, including API Co-founders Barbara Nicholson and Lysa Parker. I get to meet other API leaders, and I am super excited to meet some of the API staff members who I have only known so far through phone calls and e-mail messages!
But the weekend is so much more than a social event. It’s a time to learn more about Attachment Parenting. What I hope to do, especially at the think-tank event, is to learn more about the research of Attachment Parenting and bring home new ideas to benefit my family. The people on this think-tank panel are some of the most amazing names in the Attachment Parenting world – I’m totally psyched about seeing Dr. William and Martha Sears in person(!) among others – and I look forward to sitting in the audience and soaking up as much knowledge from them as possible. Totally worth facing my fear of getting lost in Nashville!
For those who will not be able to make it, I will be writing up summary articles from the Gathering to be included in the special 15th Anniversary Commemorative issue of The Attached Family magazine, available to API members at the end of the year. For those who are coming, I would love to include your comments from the event. E-mail me at editor@attachmentparenting.org after the event to have your story and photograph included in The Attached Family.
