It had been 1.5 years since the Illinois Mothers of Multiples were able to get together for an in person event. In October 2021 65 moms gathered for the 59th annual convention. The convention was YEARS in the making with the theme: VEGAS, BABIES! We’re all in! The Multiple Choice Ladies were our hosts and they did a phenomenal job especially with all the curves that COVID threw at them. The HOTEL was the Renaissance Chicago Glenview Suites and it too was TERRIFIC! (In fact, Convention 2022 will also be at this SAME hotel.)
Three Double Love Members (Jody, Lori, and Kathy) attended the convention. The convention opened Friday Night with the Parade of Banners. 12 of the 13 Illinois Clubs were represented at the Convention. We sat with the ladies from MMORE for dinner and enjoyed an evening with a DJ and dancing. We also had some poker games as part of our centerpiece so we played roulette and Blackjack just for fun. The hospitality room was open after the party, and there was a seating area outside the room where 25 to 35 of us just gathered, chatted, laughed, told stories and hung out. (This hanging out is one of the best things about convention!)
Saturday started with the Business Meeting followed by a discussion about the 2022 Spring Workshop and Convention. This will be the 60th Anniversary Convention. It will be a UNITY Convention meaning each of the local clubs will do a piece of Spring Workshop and / or Convention! Double Love will be hosting the Saturday Night event. Following the 2022 UNITY Convention discussion, we enjoyed lunch and listened to a WONDERFUL keynote speaker: Stacy Nadeau – one of the original Dove® Real Beauty Models who is now an Ambassador for Women’s Empowerment and public speaker. Awards were given out to clubs, individuals and there was an installation of officers.
Double Love received a certificate commemorating the 40th Anniversary of DL in 2021. Following the keynote there were 2 breakout sessions: Learning the ‘ABC’s of IEP’s’ and ‘How to Pay for College without Breaking the Bank.’ We were left with time before dinner to check out all the fabulous raffle baskets.
For the evening, we moved into the beautiful Hotel Atrium for an “Around the World” catered Dinner that had a little of everything: Mediterranean, Asian, Italian, American and Mexican. There was a Piano Man that provided the entertainment with then a SURPRISE visit from ELVIS. We listened to Elvis sing a number of songs and took pictures with him.
The evening ended with a visit to the raffle room to see who won. The big Double Love winner was Annette (she bought tickets remotely and had Kathy put her 25 tickets into kid baskets or those with gift cards.) Annette WON 5 or 6 baskets, Jody won 2 and Lori won 1. We sat up late again and chatted outside the hospitality room.
Mark your calendars TODAY for the 2022 Spring Workshop – April 23, 2022 (virtual event which will most likely be free) and 2022 Convention – October 14 – 16, 2022. As Jody likes to say – convention is the BEST therapy for us MOMS OF TWINS (and a lot cheaper and more fun!!!!)
Double Love 