One of the greatest things about our South Park Digest family is that anytime one of us would like to go visit another one of us - we always have a place to stay and do not have to worry about the added expense of a hotel - which is why there are so many Mini-Conventions - or Mini-Cons. While Mini-Cons are always fun and bring us all even closer - the one and only problem that arises as a result of these Mini-Cons falls on the host - finding a place for everyone to sleep.

Considering that most people who live alone like myself tend to only have sleeping accommodations for themselves - finding a place to tuck in a bunch of your friends requires some invention. I can remember hosting close to thirty people last year and waking up to a sea of bodies sprawled all over my house. People were sleeping on futons, air mattresses, pillows shaped into a makeshift bed - and even on the floor behind my homebar.

This year, I have a much smaller apartment - and thankfully - a much smaller guest list. But even with three guests this year - putting them to bed did require a little invention. I did the gentlemanly thing and gave Julie and Summer my bed and Mike the couch - while I politely took the floor.

As I woke up early each morning and saw them sleeping in my home, I fondly recalled so many memories of sleeping arrangements from previous conventions I hosted, and those I was a guest at. I remember Mary and I sleeping on Dan and Kandice's couch when we went to Chicago in August, I recall having Arthur, Suzi and Summer crash on my bedroom floor during last year's Hallowein - and I remember having to sleep on the floor of Denver International Airport all alone due to the fact that I was the first to arrive at the first South Park Convention and could not get a hotel that night.

But while the strange sleeping arrangements can sometimes be uncomfortable, it is one of the things about our South Park family that shows how close we are. When I woke up this morning, I not only had two ladies asleep in my home who I never would have met if not for the South Park Digest - I had two ladies asleep in my home that trust me enough to stay with me. That level of trust spans across our entire family and has since December of 2000 when I met Donna, the very first member of the South Park Digest I ever met in person, who let me in her home while her two infant daughters were asleep upstairs. She knew nothing about me except the words I typed in the Digest - and yet she opened her home to me - and since then - all of us have done that for each other.

The fourth annual South Park Convention - or SPC4 - is in June of 2004. So far, there are no other Mini-Cons planned until then - but I get the funny feeling that I will not have to wait until next June to see some more members of my South Park family...

...or have them sleep in my bed.