When I said the words, "You can go with me, if you want," I half expected Alexis to run away screaming and never return. She has a long history of fearing things that are giant and fuzzy. There was no reason to expect that she would want to purposely wander into the center of the Fuzzy Thing universe.
But she did.
I gave her multiple chances to chicken out of her adventure near Anthrocon, but she was all in. I warned her that there were over 5000 people at the conference and that nearly 2000 of them could potentially show up wearing a fursuit. I cautioned her that some of the fursuits were a little more of the creepy flavor and less of the cheery flavor. I reminded her how she felt about the drunken Pirate (She still hates him, by the way. She doesn't remember why, though.) and that there would be many furries who would get along fabulously with him. She didn't care. She wanted to go.
So she did.
I've done the Anthrocon thing many times in the past. To be honest, it's not as fun as it used to be. That's partly because I've seen a lot of the fursuits at this point, so it takes a very special sort of fursuit to get my attention (Toothless did it this year. That suit is full of awesome.). It's also partly because checking out Anthrocon has become the "cool yinzer" thing to do. That has, in many ways, ruined it. While once we were able to stand right outside or inside the Westin and mingle away, now there is a sheriff and various security chasing people away. It seems the chasing started this year because too many yinzers have crashed the party in years past, many of them after making out with a few too many beers. Too many beers leads to too much stupidity, and suddenly it makes sense why the Westin has cracked down on passers by, particularly later in the evening.
But earlier in the day, when the sun is still shining, there are still chances to mingle.
So Alexis did.
I would have expected that the child would have started out timid, but instead she was high-fiving the very first furry that she encountered. As the hours went by, she ran up to countless people wearing fursuits, asked for a photo, and waited for her paparazzi to catch up. She hugged, she danced, she laughed, she chased, she squeaked, she did it all.
The furries that ventured into public were looking for fun. Many of them clearly define "fun" as "making a kid smile."
And THAT is how I discovered that Anthrocon with a kid is very different than without one.
Anthrocon posts from years past: