Sometimes I feel like it’s easier to be real, open and authentic online than it is in person.
I can bare my soul, talk about my weight issues, my marriage issues, show the inside of my van for the whole world to see. At least the whole world on the other end of the pale light of the computer screen.
And here’s a huge confession:
Sometimes I feel like YOU all know me better than my real-life friends do.
[before all of you real-life friends get your feelings hurt, if you are reading this at all, you count in the "YOU" too.] It’s not like I require people who know me in real life to frequent my blog, but let’s just be real here: I don’t hold much back here on this little corner of web real estate.
This is nitty-gritty, scared, bloated, hurt, frustrated, weepy me.
Sure I get feedback: that comes in the form of emails, comments and the occasional twitter @ reply. But it’s far different than the kind of feedback I would get if I shared the same information/story/truth standing flip-flop to flip-flop with a friend while our kids are swimming at the pool in July. If I walked up to a group of moms at the park and told them some of my stories (the ones I tell to you every day) I might get some “hmphs” and another mother might grab her two year old by the hand and with a worried look hurry her to the car.
So here, in the blog/twitter world we start with a context. We get past the how-many-kids-do-you-have questions and go straight for the throat: grace, failure, forgiveness…
It might take me months or years knowing someone strictly in face-to-face real life to cut through the awkward red tape that we cut through daily here on the blog world.
With that said, there is something magical about sharing the same oxygen with someone you’ve met here and then get to meet for real.
Meet Cindy. There was not any first-meeting red tape. We’d cut all that a long time ago via blog comments and phone calls. There was just sisterhood and friendship.
Because finally, after two years, I finally get to meet Cindy Beall.
Cindy and Chris Beall have a similar story to Chad’s and mine (except flip-flopped) and I finally get to meet her this weekend. This trip has been planned for half a year and…
I. Can’t. Wait. To. Hug. Her.
So today, I’m packing up the kids to spend time at my mom’s, making sure the housesitter knows to bring in the mail, and getting on a plane with my husband headed for Oklahoma City.
(The last time I was there was when I drove across the country in the back of my parents’ Chevy in between the fourth and fifth grades. I’m pretty sure it’s still flat and windy.)
Why? To spend time with a friend as good as any I know in person but I’ve never put my arms around her neck.
If you’ve never read Cindy’s blog, please hop over there. You’ll realize why this California girl loves that Oklahoma girl (or Texas?) so much.
Who do you want to hug in person you’ve never met?
We’ll try to twitter as much as possible. Follow us:
Yes, it’s true. And for me over the past two years, so much of my community has been found here on the Internet. It’s hard to explain to people who’ve never fallen in friendship love with someone online. Why I would spend hundreds of dollars in plane fare to visit her or her; why I would let her stay in my house for 3 weeks while we were out of the country, or why I would share my deepest secrets with her or her?
They are some of my best friends in the world and they are spread out all over the globe.
So while I’m hiding out with my husband (in some undisclosed location – wink) for the next 36 hours, here are some of my favorite Internet loves and friends. I hope you find a new friend today, too.
Cindy Beall (the goddess of Oklahoma) has an amazing testimony of God’s faithfulness and grace in the face of her own husband’s infidelity. She’s beautiful and (did I already say amazing?) amazing and I can’t wait to hug her very very very soon.
Mandy Thomson (coolest girl drummer in Boston) is a Georgia transplant who is about ready to move home. Mandy will make you laugh and then let you listen to her latest song right there on her blog. Last fall Chad and I visited her and Drew for the longest double date of any of our lives. I’ve never laughed so hard or had so much fun in a graveyard, ever.
Annie (well, we’re just going to call her Annie Blogs) is the funniest person I’ve met (not including my own husband). I call her first for everything writing-related and can just say, “hi” and pick up from where we left off the last time. She loves my kids and she graciously tolerated my cat for 3 weeks last spring when she stayed in our house while we were gone. She’s the kind of writer I want to be like when I grow up (and maybe I can live in Nashville too, like her).
Along with Annie and myself, Melodee and Linda make up the Hermonistas. We met two years ago at Mount Hermon Writers Conference and have been the best of writing friends ever since. They’ve torn apart my writing (in good ways) and have been both excited and disappointed for me at appropriate times. Mel lives in Seattle and Linda lives about 5 miles from my but I’ve never been more thankful for a group of women. (By the way, anyone out there going to Mount Hermon this year?)
Lisa Leonard (Internet jewelry maven) has been my best real life friend since college. She taught me how to blow dry curly hair (even though mine is straight), to drink hot tea without letting the loose leaves free in the cup, and how to be a good friend. Lisa has an amazing jewelry business and blog. If you’ve never seen her work, go visit now and buy something!
Alece (aka Grit and Glory) is someone that I admire maybe more than anyone right now. She’s been sharing her story the past several days. She’s home in the States for awhile before she returns to her ministry in South Africa sometime in the future. You will love her as much as I do, I know it.
Denise and Kristen (from California and Idaho respectively) are two of my favorite girls. Both homeschooling moms (a reason alone for earning the title of HERO in my book) the three of us spent a (short) few days together in May. I love them. Simply that. If I could live next door to anyone in the world, it would be them.
Elizabeth Esther is worthy of all honor because she has FIVE amazing kids and seems to keep it all together too. And…she’s writing a book. She lives close by so I call her on a whim to meet me at the park or she calls me on a whim to meet her at Starbucks. It works out less than we’d like, but when it does, it’s all laughter and misadventure. (Well, not really the misadventure. It just sounded good).
There are so many more. Visit my blogroll to see some of the girls (and guys) I read when I get a chance to read blogs.
