Getting Blessed with Glitter By Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher is a force of nature - but the good kind of nature like sunny days that aren't too hot or a much needed downpour during a dry spell. She makes a grand entrance and leaves a trail behind her. Sometimes that trail is figurative, and sometimes it's an actual trail made of glitter. No, really.

I've been to a few conventions where Carrie Fisher was present, but I didn't know about her penchant for glitter. She anoints people who come to her table for an autograph with sparkling glitter and whatever else she has on hand. This time it was gold eyeliner. Sometimes it's just a sprinkle of glitter but other times, well, I saw a few bald men wandering around Indiana Comic Con on Saturday with a hefty amount of various shades of glitter on their foreheads. I'm not so much into getting autographs, the idea of being glitter-bombed by Fisher was too appealing to be ignored.

While I was already sold on the idea of getting an autograph from Fisher on Sunday of the convention, attending her Q&A panel on Saturday night further convinced me. She was sharp, quick-witted, hilarious, and candid. She talked about not being a "squeezy and tilty" girl when filming for Star Wars began, about Princess Leia being such an iconic character "because she's a badass," and made jokes about how she loves being part of everyone's childhood but not necessarily part of everyone's adolescence. She talked about The Blues Brothers, Postcards from the Edge, and being a script doctor. And she made out with Gary the dog who sat on the chair next to her during the panel. She's a national treasure.

The next day I decided to queue up for the early autograph session, and I'm glad I did. There was a change to her schedule and photo ops and autographs got rearranged. I didn't really have anywhere else to be so I settled in for the long haul. The beginning of the autograph session got more and more delayed, but after a certain point, I was committed. I figured it was just practice for waiting in line at Celebration. By the time I stood in line to buy an autograph ticket and then moved to the actual autograph queue and got near the front of the line, it was about five hours. It's the longest I've waited for anything but because I made friends in line and had my Kindle and comics, it went surprisingly fast.

At one point during the queue, the line got close to the side of the actual autograph table. Gary was sleeping on a blanket behind the table (d'aww!) and Fisher's handler was wearing all black and sparkling wherever the fluorescent lights hit her because of all the glitter. There was so much on her clothing that it looked like part of the fabric. I watched Carrie Fisher apply gold eyeliner and glitter to several people. She told one lady she was drawing a hawk on her forehead and Carrie serenaded her while she applied it. She told a little girl the glitter would keep her safe and sprinkled generous amounts into her hair. By adopting this glitter blessing tradition, Fisher turned what would be a fleeting moment with her while she signed her name into an unforgettable and fabulous occasion.

Finally, it was my turn. I was basically speechless. I was afraid I would start weeping because I'm an emotional person. She signed my comic: "For Amy, you rocked while the rest rolled." And then she stood up and leaned over to apply glitter to my face.

She used the gold eyeliner first and told me she was drawing an exclamation point on my forehead. I muttered something I don't remember but what I should have said was that an exclamation point was a good punctuation mark for life - much better than a semi-colon or something. I noticed her bright purple mascara at this point though and commented on how much I liked it. She said, "We have to do these things." I said, "I agree! It's fun." And she replied, "It's more than fun. It's joyous."

Yes it is, Carrie Fisher, it is goddamn joyous.

Could she be any more perfect?! After the eyeliner was applied to my forehead and temples, she used her fingers and hands to wipe up silver glitter from the jar on the table. And also directly from the table. She dabbed some onto my forehead and then rubbed the silver glitter all over my cheeks. I was smiling liking an idiot by this point. I could tell glitter was basically covering my face. I walked away not saying any of the things I meant to say to her, but maybe it's best that I didn't. I wouldn't change a thing.