The Best Thing That Happened At Dragon Con

John and I are home from Dragon Con, still recovering from the annual 5-day Geek Gauntlet. I'm exhausted, exhilarated, peppered with bruises from wrangling Agnes, and more than a little overwhelmed thinking about all the amazing stories and photos I have to share with you guys.

But first things first.

Let's start with the memory I'm going to forever treasure most. The one that hasn't quite sunk in yet. The one that made me dance and shake and get all tongue-tied and probably say even more awkward things than I usually do.

It went like this:

Agnes is more than a little hard to transport, so huge sections of Dragon Con were completely off-limits for her. After careful mapping and planning, though, John and I determined we could get Agnes to exactly ONE of Karen Prell's panels, where we hoped to catch Karen's eye and perhaps get a moment or two to say hello. (Karen is the original Junk Lady *and* Blue Worm puppeteer. She's also Red Fraggle, and more recently has worked with Pixar and Valve for Portal 2!)

I'll spare you the details of the Herculean effort it requires to get a large costume like Agnes anywhere at Dragon Con - especially on Saturday - but suffice to say it required four people, significant upper body strength, and a LOT of time and patience.

We budgeted plenty of time, but even arriving early, we were told the panel line stretched outside a few blocks (where Agnes could not go), and we had no guarantee of getting into the large room.

Enter my dear friend-and-Epbot-reader Renee, who in addition to being on Agnes detail that afternoon, also knew the stage manager for this particular panel, Wendy. A few frantic calls/texts later, and we were being ushered backstage.

I was in Agnes at the time, and with the crushing crowd and noise level, I had no idea what was going on. (Not all that unusual, come to think of it.) I figured we were being led into the panel room to get us out of the way, not backstage!

But then, just moments later, I heard someone say Karen was there. I peered through my scrims all around and spotted her standing several feet in front of me, the most delightful grin on her face. "Karen!" I called out, "KAREN! I AM SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU." 

****

Maya Angelou once said, "People will forget what you said... but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I think about that a lot. I think about how much harder it is to project feelings than words - and how much more important it is to get those feelings right, and not so much a perfect script. It's something I'm always striving for, every blog post, every meetup.

So when I tell you I don't remember exactly what else was said at that moment, only that Karen made me feel happy and, weirdly, seen, I hope that tells you what an amazing woman she is.

 I told her I was grinning on the inside. And I was.

Then I asked her to sign my junk.

:D

 Since we'd sadly lost my Labyrinth book off the junk pile en route (a minor heartbreak), John had Karen sign our saw blade:

We made the blade out of plastic poster board for safety.

There were quite a few people milling about backstage at this point - almost all looking at us - plus it was dark and I was, y'know, in a giant pile of junk. So when I heard another voice ask, "Oh, what's this?" I didn't think too much of it. The voice came closer, and I felt the energy in the people around me shift. There was an expectancy, an excitement. The man was too close and too tall for me to see his face, so as John introduced Agnes again I squinted through the scrim to see his badge... and slowly made out the name, "BRIAN HENSON."

There has never been a more appropriate Kermit Flail in the history of Kermit Flails, you guys.

The panel was about to begin, so Brian didn't linger long; by the time I'd recovered (I honestly can't remember if I said *anything* to him) he was being led away. The crew invited us to stay and watch from backstage, so John helped an oh-so-shaky me out of Agnes, then gave me an encouraging shove toward Karen, who was still nearby. She gave me a hug (!!) and we took a photo together, which no one will ever see because I looked terrible, and then she, too, went onstage.

But wait, there's more!

The panel was fantastic and hilarious, and even my mega-fangirl self learned a few new things about how they filmed Labyrinth.

When it was over, I asked John if anyone had taken a photo of Brian with Agnes earlier. They hadn't. But of course we didn't want to ask now and risk bothering him. So we just kinda lingered - without trying to look like we were lingering -  as Brian and Karen made their way back through the small crowd of fans and volunteers. After a few moments Brian suddenly asked, "Hey, did we get a picture with the Junk Lady?" And then to someone nearby, "You've got to see this one!" plus some other lovely things I won't repeat because I get to remember them just for me, and that's enough.

So not only did Brian Henson lead the group back over to our Agnes, he then struck this fabulous pose:

 Showing off his crazy-colorful jeans. Ha! 

(I don't think Agnes approved. Surprise, surprise.)

(He said during the panel his 10-year-old daughter picked the jeans.)

Brian was quite keen on getting a good picture, even asking for someone with a flash to take one - though my camera actually did pretty well for it being so dark. I remember shaking his hand, and blurting out, "It's a privilege to meet you," and immediately regretting my word choice and feeling like an idiot for the rest of the day. "Privilege?" Why did I say that? Honor, sure. Pleasure, of course. But PRIVILEGE? What is even wrong with me aaaaaaaaaauuughhh

Ahem.

Despite my fangirling, I managed to mostly hold it together for one last conversation with Karen, who seemed happy to share some stories and answer my questions about Junk Lady. I left thinking we could totally be friends if she lived nearby, but managed to restrain myself from inviting her to lunch and/or be besties, because barriers, Jen. Barriers.

FUNNY POST SCRIPT:

As we were wrapping up our photos and goodbyes backstage, Brett Dalton of Agents of SHIELD was led in to prepare for his panel, up next. I recognized him, of course, but was all starry-eyed over Brian and Karen, and so barely glanced up when I heard him exclaiming over Agnes.

Anyway, I'm told that during Brett's last panel on Monday someone asked what the coolest thing he'd seen at Dragon Con was, and he replied that before his panel on Saturday he'd seen the actual screen-used Junk Lady.

To my knowledge, no one has corrected him yet.


And that, everyone, is a fitting end to the best thing that happened at Dragon Con this year.

Hope it gave you a smile.

(Oh, and stay tuned for many reports on all the second best things that happened. 'Cuz there are LOTS.)