A huge thank you to everyone who has ever organized a DO that I have attended. I have no idea how may there have been, but would not be surprised to find that the number way exceeds 200 or 300 parties, especially if you include private, and serendipitous get togethers with FlyerTalkers all around the world. I have had a wonderful time at each and every one of these celebrations--from the first one in Seattle in August of 1999 to the last one in Seattle in August of 2007. (Good food at your house, Missy) Well I guess the last one was actually Saturday night in Boston, where we had the tremendous privilege of hanging out with one of the FT originals.

I must, however, offer extra special thanks to Dovster, for putting together the Israel DO. Visiting Jerusalem had always been a dream for us and we may never have done so had Dov not made it so easy and comfortable.

I don't know Jenbel if I can agree with you that attendees should be FlyerTalkers before the come to DOs or while they are at DOs. Some of the most fun and interesting FlyerTalkers I know have at one point or another in time been "permanently banned" from FT, or only became FlyerTalkers after they attended DOs. Think Jailer, who was drug along to the original PIP by his cousin. When I first looked at the PIP Express seat map (we booked the whole top deck of a 747 for this trip) I will admit that I can remember being leary of this non-FlyerTalker in our midst, but in the end he has turned out to be one of my very most favorite and funny FT friends. Boy was I ever wrong.

I suspect that if we open our hearts and minds to really get to know one another, we will find that there is a lot of good in all of us. We may not all end up being best friends, but, unless someone is inherently evil (and I don't believe there are many, if any, inherently evil types on FT) we can all learn from one another. That is the beauty of this crazy community. Embrace it.