2002 Spring Event

The 2002 Big As TEXAS Assembly took place March 8th - 10th. The theme this year was "Texas ain't big enough to hold all of us!" A good theme, since people came from a lucky thirteen different states!

The evening began at 4:00 P.M. with the opening of registration and the Hospitality Suite. This year, Diane Roscoe was the host for the Suite, providing some home baked cookies and always ready for games or conversation.

Left: Diane ready for visitors to the Hospitality Suite. This and all photos by Jay Early unless otherwise noted.

Saturday began with a movement activity. Melissa Taylor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, led us in a workout that included warm up stretching, aerobic exercise, and some cooling down stretches.

Right: Terry Early (left) and leader Melissa Taylor perched atop exercise balls.

Left: Darlene Cates leading the Hands-on Activism workshop.

C. J. Schoenrock, workshop facilitator for "Through the Looking Glass."

Right: Andra Lozzi, facilitator for the PCOS and Nutrition workshops.

Left: Jay Early, facilitator for the travel session. (Yup, we'll tell the truth--this is a photo from the 1999 event.)

Following the keynote address, we danced the night away.

On Sunday morning we concluded with a brunch and a closing program where attendees were encouraged to lay to rest painful memories of the past. Each individual was given a piece of paper upon which to record whatever memory they wanted to bury, and then the papers were placed, one by one, into the "coffin," where they could be buried and forgotten.

There are a few unusual things that occurred this year:

• To begin, two producers from PBS Houston attended from Friday evening through about 2:00 P.M. on Saturday. They are making a documentary about bariatric surgery and wanted to interview three people who were ten or more years post op. They conducted their interviews on Saturday morning, also interviewing Terry Early, the organizer of Big As TEXAS, about the event. In addition, they shot footage of the aerobic activity.

• The second unusual thing was a service project this year. We received a request for larger clothing from an agency that serves the needy in Southeast Texas. We invited anyone who had clothing they don't wear anymore to donate it, and collected six big bags to deliver to those in need.

• The third thing involved some of the people who were staying over until Monday: nine of us took the historic Tarantula Train from Grapevine into the Fort Worth Stockyards and back again. Later on Sunday evening, eight of us went into Addison for dinner at the Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian restaurant. We had so much fun with these last minute arrangements that we decided next year we will plan a Sunday afternoon adventure ahead of time, for anyone staying over who isn't ready for the weekend to end!

4/02