Last week I went to DrupalCon Rotterdam. I was only there for the government summit: one day and two nights. I travelled on my own, gave a talk, and sat on my first ever panel.
I'd been dreading the panel. The people around me were sharp, the conversation was serious, and I was there to share my opinion on something I believe in, but don’t always know what that is. There was nowhere to hide. I held my own, even if one of my answers, when asked about suppliers making money, was "we just try not to be greedy arseholes".
I stand by it.
The talk ran long. I'd prepared for fifteen minutes and the slot was ten, so obviously, with my tangents, I went ten minutes over. Only one person seemed bothered.
The very first person I saw was Rachel Lawson and her beaming smile. She shared her motorbike stories and a few secrets, and I slid into the summit room just as the first activity was starting.
Of course I was late. The thing started at 8am.
The room was full of old friends and new faces, and the talks covered big subjects: policy in Europe, digital sovereignty, and how Drupal has a tonne of knowledge to solve a load of problems, but no one really knows how to join up the policy that recommends our Open Source way of working with the reality of local government procurement.
And just like that, the day was over and it was drinks on the patio. My favourite bit, and not because of the drinks. That old Drupal adage is right: come for the code, stay for the community.
People came to find me about the talk. They said I had good energy. They said I gave good answers. That's going straight in my evidence folder, titled "I know what I'm doing, honest". Apparently I'm the last person who needs convincing.
The night went on. The usual gang and a few new friends lingered in the pizza place, on the hunt for one last drink. I felt safe enough with my old friends to have my first real night out since my heart attack.
After a while I told a few people about it. I hadn't planned to. They were so kind.
And there were hugs. So many hugs, from people I've known for years and see far too rarely.
Well past midnight, I danced in the rain with an old friend. The next morning I woke up to wet clothes on my hotel floor, and I didn't mind at all. It had been fun.
Yesterday at cardiac rehab, after the circuits I do with Linda and Ann, we watched a video about managing stress. It talked about connection with friends, and about intimacy, as things that genuinely protect your heart.
The research backs it up. A 2010 review of 148 studies covering more than 300,000 people found those with stronger social relationships had a 50% greater likelihood of survival, an effect comparable with well-established risk factors for death. A 2016 study in the journal Heart linked poor social relationships to a 29% higher risk of coronary heart disease and a 32% higher risk of stroke.
Even hugs have been studied. In a Carnegie Mellon study, more social support and more frequent hugs protected stressed people from infection and led to milder symptoms, with hugs accounting for a third of the protective effect.
I didn't need to be told this. I'd just come back from Rotterdam lighter.
This isn't a post about what I learned at DrupalCon. It's about what I already knew about community, especially the Drupal community.
So, thank you. I'll see you at the next one, and look after yourselves.