Thank You Supernatural

 So, today marks the last first day of filming for a Supernatural episode, and Nerds and Beyond asked use on Twitter to

"Share your favorite #Supernatural moment, memory, or how the show has changed your life."

I couldn't do it within the restraints of Twitter, so here we are.

I found Supernatural late, really late. Like I started watching early this year late. Not because I had never heard of the show, but because I generally don't do 'scary' or 'intense' and figured the show just wasn't for me. Looking back, even though it was only 7 or 8 months ago, I couldn't tell you exactly what made me start watching the show. I think I stumbled across a timeline summary or something on YouTube and was intrigued, but I really don't know. What I do know is I jumped headfirst into the YouTube rabbit hole that is convention videos pretty much simultaneously with jumping into the show itself. I also know that before I even finished watching the first season I was half in love with the core cast and had already downloaded and memorized Radio Company Volume 1. 

Thanks in part to COVID and quarantining it took me somewhere around 4 months to watch the first 14 seasons of the show. Some seasons we're easier to watch than others, and some characters worked their way closer to my heart than others. I was lucky in that I was only truly quarantined for two months, but two months in an apartment by yourself in a new city in a new state 1500 plus miles from my family was enough. Supernatural provided a sense of stability during my quarantine that I truly needed. I knew that when I wanted something to watch there were more episodes to watch, when I needed cheering up I could watch convention videos and be guaranteed a smile, when I needed encouragement to get through the day I had the cast reminding me that I matter and to always keep fighting, when I needed to feel connected I had virtual conventions and StageIt performances, when I needed music I could sing along to or to just be my soundtrack while baking I had Louden Swain and Dick Jr and the Volunteers, and when I needed to do something to help I had GISH, Stands, and Random Acts leading the way. I joke that my quarantine was Supernatural themed, but it really was. For an introvert with communication and anxiety issues Supernatural could not have come to me at a better time.

I have never been to a convention, I haven't met any of the cast, I haven't even really met any other fans in person, but the community that has been created around this show has been incredible. I stepped out of my comfort zone a bit and did GISH 3 times (so far) this year and in doing so met some awesome people who I plan to keep in contact with well beyond the constraints of GISH. I also started writing for Nerds and Beyond, a website I didn't even know existed before I started watching Supernatural. Even if those two things were all that came out of me watching Supernatural, it would still be one of the best things to happen to me in quite a while. However, I also feel like the SPN Family has offered me a place to really be myself in a way that I don't always get to be. I have always felt the weight of other people's expectations of me fall quite heavy on my shoulders and I often wear a mask to fit those expectations, but within this fandom, this family, I feel like I can be, and maybe learn to be, myself. To be who I am without any mask on.

All that to say, I don't have a decade plus of my life tied to the show. I don't even have a year. What I have is the first part of what might go down as the weirdest year of my life directly tied to the show. So while I might not have been on the journey with the cast and crew from the beginning, I want to say Thank You. Thank you all for showing up everyday for so many years and doing your best to create this show that has impacted so many lives. Thank you for caring about all of those lives you have impacted. And thank you for reminding us that 'Notheing ever really ends'.