A Real Friend

I write to you today with a happy heart.  3 days ago my bloggy world and my real life world collided at lunch in Pittsburgh.  As I drove to my meeting place, I was a bit nervous.  “What if we run out of things to say?  Will she like me when she meets me in person?”  It felt quite similar to those first date jitters.  (No I wasn’t worried about whether or not she’d kiss me when she dropped me off at the end).    But there was still that eager anticipation for what lie ahead. 

When you tell someone you are going to lunch to meet someone you met on the internet, it sounds a bit like something you might see on TV.  People start to get a bit alarmed and concerned or give you a weird look. 

Those of you who are part of the blogging community know how you can know someone before you know them.  They get it when you refer to someone as a friend, even though you’ve never technically seen them face to face.   

That’s how it was with Rebecca.  She left several sweet comments on my blog last fall which led me to check out her blog.  Commenting led to e-mailing which later led to facebooking and before I knew it I found myself wishing I had her address so I could send her a Christmas card.   She was more than just a name on the screen or a blog in my reader.  She was a friend. 

And this friendship bloomed over lunch on Saturday.  As we sat and talked at Chili’s for hours, I felt as if I was having lunch with an old friend.  We knew so much about each other and the every day highs and lows, big and little things which had transpired over the past several months.   It was great to get filled in some of the details and to follow up on things.  We talked about our kids, our husbands, Bible study, blogs, discipline, labor…I couldn’t believe how quickly our time together flew by.  I felt like I could have talked all day with her!

What blogging meet and greet would be complete without some picture taking?  As she dropped me off at our meeting place at the Giant Eagle, we realized we needed a picture.  After a failed attempt at snapping the picture ourselves, we set off across the fairly deserted parking lot to find someone to take our picture.

Ever been approached by someone as you were loading your groceries in the car to see if you could snap their picture?  Sure, I’ve been approached in Disney World or a National Park, but never Giant Eagle.  I felt a little awkward so I said something like, “bet you don’t get asked this every day,” to which she replied “No, it’s cool, I do stuff like this all the time.”   I wanted to ask, “Really, you ask people for pics in parking lots all the time, b/c I felt kinda silly asking you?”

I tell you only a real friend would go along with a crazy antic like this. 

And thanks to this crazy thing called the internet, that is exactly what Rebecca has become to me. 

A Real Friend.