December 8, 2014 Advent with SusieJ

Doctor Who

Mom was a geek.

Dad was an engineer; Mom worked for banks. Both encouraged my love of math, but Mom really encouraged my love of what is now geek culture.

She surprised me with her Big Bang Theory fandom, but it shouldn't have. She introduced me to Doctor Who. I was nine or ten years old, and we were dressing for a cousin's wedding. She had PBS running on the television in her bedroom, as she often did. I was half watching her put on makeup and curl her hair, and half watching the latest alien menace (it was ). It terrified me, yet made me a fan for life.

My friends were in fan clubs; my now-husband had recorded every episode WHYY, WNJT and WYBE aired.

As I write, three hundred other Whovians are slowly gathering in the lobby of a hotel in New Jersey to discuss, dissect, disagree and squee over a once-obscure British television series. "I have found my people" is often a joke, but a true one.

Thank you for helping me find them, Mom.

Gallifrey One 2012, a Doctor Who convention. I'm wielding a sonic lipstick.