No offense cessna, but for those of us who are attending, you make us out to be suckers or something. I've been to Scotland several times. Each time taking more and more of it's spirit back home with me. And granted, this is the first time that I will be participating in something of this nature. I am more of a "headout and see where I end up" kind of girl when it comes to travelling. Busy cities don't really turn my crank nearly as much as the quiet, lesser known places. However, as soon as I heard about the gathering I knew I had to go.

They way I see it, and the rest of us from out of Scotland itself, this is an opportunity to revel in our heritage along with thousands of others. It's one thing for me to go to Scotland and enjoy it, and for SuzieQ to go and enjoy it, and for JoeBloo to go and enjoy it. But for us all to get together, meet each other and enjoy Scotland together. Well, it's different.

Yes there are games and festivals all the time. I've been to them and enjoyed every minute of them. But in the spirit of trying to get together so many people from so many different places, someplace and some date has to be set as "the" place and time. Edinburgh, with it's amenities is a logical place.

I canni say that I have even been treated rudely in Scotland, or never has anyone acted as though my tourism was a pain in their ****. But the tone of that editorial really made me feel like an incoming intruder. Someone to be avoided. How many other Scots are going to pack themselves off to Spain?

This is my opinion and nothing more, but the more I visit Scotland, the more I believe that Scots take their heavenly country for granted. Since they live there, they may not realise just how much it appeals to others and just how much it means to someone who does not get to see it day in and day out. This of course is true of any person and place, not just Scots. People who live in Colorado often think I am silly for wanting to gather pine cones when I am there, but for me, they are a novelty. For some attending the gathering, this will be their first time back to where they came from. Whether they are expats or just followers of a Scottish lineage on an ancestral tree, Scotland is where they came from and they are proud of it.

It's often been stated, even on this website, that it is often the non-Scots who keep more in tune with the carrying on of their heritage. We're not the ones living there but we're still proud of our Scottishness (however great or small it is) and are not afraid to show it. Yes, a lot of the traditions have been diluted, altered, and over the years sometimes morphed into something totally un-Scottish. Some even wear *gasp* white kilt hose. But in the end, it all originated in Scotland.