Almost Nine Years as an AMCC rep...

One of the things about long road trips is that they afford you time to think on things that might not ordinarily cross your mind. This past weekend, Steve and I drove up to Ogunquit, Maine, and back for the Harbor Masters’ 30^th Anniversary weekend, and the AMCC meeting being hosted by that club. As is always the case with us, the drive itself was an adventure to be remembered, but the quiet times offered up a lot of value, too.

I found myself thinking back to my first AMCC meeting as the DC boys of Leather rep. That was March, 2004, at the Long Island Ravens 12^th Anniversary run. I ended up going mainly because no one else in the club was free that particular weekend, and Gene (the sitting DCboL president at the time) asked me if I’d go. I was a little skittish about it, but agreed to it anyway.  So, off I went, with instructions from my club on how to vote on a particular matter.

People will often ask me what benefits can be had from involvement in AMCC. And I will first try to address that at a club level, since AMCC is an organization of clubs. But there is also the personal level, and I can speak to that with even more passion.

I still remember how awkward I felt when I got to the hotel in Ronkonkoma that Saturday morning. I think the only person there I really knew was Steve. There were a few others with whom I was acquainted, enough to help me get passed the initial awkwardness. But there I was, quiet and more than a little detached, trying to figure out what the hell I was doing and why I was there with all these people.

Fortunately, they didn’t let me stay detached long.  The ice got broken. Different people drew me into different conversations. At the meeting itself, any skittishness was quickly dispelled by all the friendly guys I was meeting. By the time the formal dinner rolled around Saturday evening, I was having a blast, invited to sit with people I’d really just met. Before the weekend was over, I’d made some friendships that have proven to be long-lasting and more rewarding than I thought possible going into all of that.

How different would things be today if I hadn’t gone to the Long Island Ravens run to attend an AMCC meeting? I often jokingly say that it was the Ravens that corrupted me, but the truth is that it was there that I began to shed the quiet boy who stayed off to the side and become the active, more than slightly crazy leatherman I am today.

More than that, though, it’s the friendships and sense of community that I found through it all that have had such a deep and lasting impact on me. That weekend in March 2004 opened the way to a series of experiences that brought for me a lot of growth and chance. From there, through the Centaurs Olympia in September 2004, the DC boys’ 5^th anniversary weekend in Rehoboth, and culminating with the AMCC meeting and harbor cruise dinner hosted by Empire City MC in October 2004 (their 40^th anniversary). By the time I made it to another AMCC meeting in Philly on New Years’ Day 2005, I felt like part of the whole.

And now – nearly 9 years later, I look back and I see a path filled with rich friendships and experiences. What do I get from AMCC? OK, the meetings can be blah. But these weekends aren’t about the meetings. They aren’t even about the parties and the cocktails. These weekends are about friends and – in a sense – family. Some of the people I’ve come to know over these years are more than just friends. The relationships I’ve built with all of them are what make the “work” I do through and on behalf of AMCC so enjoyable. They’re what contribute to the great memories I’ve come to cherish.

A bunch of us sitting in the hospitality suite at a Pennsmen run. We chose to stay there rather than go to the bar. What happened next was a tickle scene resulting in a chair flying across a room.  Oh, and the beginnings of a little group called the ButtMunchkins.

Twenty-seven of us from the DC/Baltimore leather community on the same flight out of BWI to Portland for the Harbor Masters 25^th.

I still think NePA planned that fire alarm to have the Scranton Fire Dept to welcome us to their run.

The Philadelphians and the Scream Girl eye openers at Tri-Cen.  9:00 am is way too early for orange chiffon!

July 2009 - the DC boys of Leather 10th Anniversary in Washington. A number of us sitting on the porch of the hotel until almost 3:30 am, just laughing and carrying on like nothing else was going on in the world.

Olympia 2010 and the plannings of the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory cocktail at the LI Ravens in 2011 – which won both the best and worst cocktail of the run awards. I’ll never look at an Oompa Lompa the same way again, that’s all I’m sayin’! And believe me, Tootsie Rolls and bubble machines do NOT go together.

This isn’t meant to be a plug for AMCC. Besides, like I said, AMCC is first and foremost there for the clubs. But the clubs are all made up of people, and each person takes away his or her own experiences and has his or her own perspective. Those combined are what make us, as a whole, so dynamic. This just happens to be mine. And much of what I have gotten on a personal level I brought back to back to my club.

I can only hope I’ve managed to give them some of what I’ve gotten out of all of it so far.