Friday, July 06, 2007

When bloggers meet in real life

Today we arose early, got the whole family in the van and on the road by 6:15, and arrived at my dad's house just past 8:00, in another (failed :( ) attempt to get the RV started. We'll get it, eventually, but it's hard when you have to drive 100 miles to perform motor repair.

The day was anything but a failure for me, however. Last night I got a bright idea: since I was going to be in the area, why not see if Lynne and I could meet up somewhere? She lives near my old high school, less than three miles from my dad's house. So I dashed off an email, and to my delight she had some free time in the morning and actually wanted to meet me! She suggested a nearby coffee shop, and we planned to meet at 8:30.

What a great time. Now I'm not normally one to spend an hour and a half in a coffee shop gabbing with girlfriends, but it really felt like I was talking with an old friend. We talked on and on about our lives, our kids, birding, blogging, and our common connections; it turns out her parents lived for a while up near my place after they retired, and her daughter is going to high school this fall at my old rival high school, and her son wants to go to my old high school.

It's funny, this blogging thing. You reveal as much of yourself as you feel comfortable, and in turn you get to know others just by reading what they reveal about their lives. In blogging you develop a character, and when you meet another "character" for real, you feel like you already know so much about them! I can say that Lynne is every bit as sweet, funny, and genuine as she is on her blog. I hope she didn't think I was a total doofus... Really, I don't get enough practice at adult conversation these days.

Lynne, it was a real pleasure. Hope to meet up at Hasty Brook soon! :)

12 comments:

R.Powers said...

Neat!
It's a small world, bloggifically speaking.
Hope you get that RV revving.

Anonymous said...

I'm happy that you had a good time. Lynne does seem like a delight on her blog.

I met one of the bloggers I visit and it turned out to be terrible. I'm kind of shy about ever trying to do it again.

(Except for meeting you, of course!

RuthieJ said...

"It's a small world after all"
I'm glad you had a chance to meet in person and found some more things in common.

Larry said...

That's pretty cool-I've come in contact with a few birders that I have met on the internet-It's usuall a fun experience.

LauraHinNJ said...

You met one of my favorite bloggers - how nice that you got along well and had time for some adult chatting!

Deb said...

FC- The blogosphere is pretty small, I mean, we have the Colee Cove connection... We'll get that RV going yet.

Pablo- I'm sorry to hear you had a bsd experience with meeting a blogger. I just have this thing, maybe it's naive, about nature bloggers being honest.

If you're ever up this way...actually, I would love to make it down to Mansfield for one of the Baker Creek Seeds festivals. I'll let you know if we do it!

RuthieJ- I hope to meet you too someday.

Larry- You seem like such a fun birder, you are on my list of bloggers I would like to hang out with.

LauraHinNJ- Lynne is way cool!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Awww Deb! I'm so flattered at the nice things you said. My family could hear me squealing when I read your email invitation last night- I was so excited! I really enjoyed meeting you too. You're right in what you said about how we reveal ourselves through our blogging. That's what sort of scared me about blogging in the beginning until I "met" you and other like-minded, good hearted bloggers out there who made me feel comfortable and welcome.

Doofus?? NO WAY!! You are my friend! See you soon!

Deb said...

Lynne- I'm crying tears of joy. Thank you, friend. :) You made my day.

Cathy said...

Well now you've got us 'all' teary. Dang. This is neat.

arcolaura said...

Just this weekend I went to a formal "meet up" of Saskatchewan bloggers - with some trepidation, knowing my differences with some who planned to attend. It turned out to be great fun, although I think Garth the non-blogger had even more fun than I, since he has no fear about differences of opinion, and had no prior knowledge of what he was wading into. All in all it was a good experience to meet the real people behind the words and even have some of the old exchanges over again, only this time you could see the winks and smiles.

Deb said...

Cathy- This is really neat. I feel like I have a new, real life friend!

Arcolaura- Meeting one blogger face to face is one thing...meeting a whole bunch of them at one time, I don't know! But seeing the winks and smiles would clarify a lot of things.

By the way, are you going to make it to the Forget music festival this year? Say hi to Fred, Chris, Ross, and Joel (The Whistlepigs) if you do!

arcolaura said...

Oh, yes, I'll be there. I've been talking with Fred about a songwriter circle that I am leading there, with some help from the Whistlepigs and Kathy Stochmal of the Frontier Gals. I actually get to be on the main stage for a few minutes this year, as a "tweener" act. Gotta get at the guitar...