It’s no secret that I love talking to y’all on my blog. It seems like one out of every eight posts I do is about blogging in some form, and that’s because it has become a big part of my life and something that I get a lot of gratification from. The World of Blog keeps revealing itself to me and I love it more fervently with each little thing I learn about it. I love the people, I love the writing, I love the comments, I love the reading, I love the projects. I even love the spam. O how I love the spam.
I can now add a new thing I love about blogging. Meeting the people face-to-face is wonderful. In the past several months, I have Skyped with L’Eric and Never Contrary, two of my favorite WordPressers. Both times, I put voices and faces with the words on the screen and was filled with warmth. The humans behind the blogs exceeded their online personae, and that’s saying a lot. They are real. Not only are they not scary, they are as delightful and smart and interesting as they appear in their blogging.
But there was still that screen involved. We find a lot of safety in our screens. Even when people leave nasty comments, we have the fail-safe of the delete button. We still remember that those things were said, but pressing delete is neat and tidy. The screen is good, but it’s not always as satisfying as we want it to be. Meeting a person in the reality of life gives us a sensory experience that can’t be matched.
So begins my thoughts on the time I met Kelly. Like, met-met her.
Guys, she’s as great as she seems.
I have been reading her blog since right before her Lucy was born, so when I held Lucy in my arms while Kelly unfurled a blanket for her to sit on, it was one of those Oprah-esque fully circle moments. My people met her people and it was so satisfying and fun. Her Emily climbed a tree at the co-op where we met while she, B, and I held our babies and gushed about the Internet and why we love this place. Scratch that. B didn’t gush; I don’t think he’s capable of doing so, but he had a time that leaned on the great side, so we’ll take that. As we made the longish drive home that afternoon, his approval of my online and now real friend came through loud and clear:
“You know who Kelly reminds me of?”
“No, who?”
“She reminds me of OG.” OG is one of our friends from Korea who is charismatic and exuberant. She fills the room with the bestest of energy whenever she walks in. She’s passionate and smart and she loves hard. The same can be said of Kelly.
A few minutes passed. I took a nap in the backseat of the car with C and when I woke, B had another comment.
“So, what does Kelly blog about?”
The fact that he asked this at all was a Big Deal. B likes all y’all alright because he knows I love you, but his world of the Internet is very different from my own. There’s not a lot of overlap between mom blogging on WordPress and publishing flarf poetry on Tumblr. But he asked. Kelly is apparently that bridge. She intrigued him, and that’s another not-small thing.
“She writes about being a mom and her life but her words are just delicious. She is a Mom on Fire.”
And she is. Kelly is the best of the web.
The reason I say all this is because in her specialness, Kelly is what I know you all are like. We are in good company with each other. Amidst the noise of the Internet, we have all found our ways towards each other, and that leaves me extremely grateful.
Photography credit goes to Emily, Kelly’s big girl. Wee Cee was zonked out in the background.
The Waiting 
I have not met another blogger in person yet. Yet. How fun would that be?
I thought you were IRL friends with SJ?
We have never met in real life. Can you believe it?
I can’t! I always imagined you guys hung out on Saturdays and went to church together!
We have reams of emails from the last three years, but we’ve never met.
Aw, this made me smile. We’ve “known” each other a long time (before either of us had a blog), but we haven’t managed to make the jump to in person yet. Stupid having to travel.
Travel is a cold, hard biotch, but someday when you guys finally do meet, it will be glorious. WordPress will likely melt.
I have met one and we have so many things in common we became an item
Don’t tell eHarmony or they may come after you for doing it the old fashioned way online way ;) That’s really cool.
You should go read their poetry– Bruce and Suzy Blue are amazing! It has been so much fun to read and follow… proposal and all
I love his poetry! It is wonderful!
Well, this just made me feel good…that’s all I’m sayin’. B chooses his moments, he always has. Those moments are precious.
They sure are. I love it when he likes my friends.
Blogger love. It’s a great thing…especially when the virtual person is even better in real life. I have one question though: What is flarf poetry? Because it sounds awesome.
The short answer is that it’s hipster crap, but it’s GOOD hipster crap:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flarf_poetry
Here’s B’s blog:
http://murooned.tumblr.com/
This was lovely.
“Amidst the noise of the Internet, we have all found our ways towards each other, and that leaves me extremely grateful.”
Could not agree more.
I am always in awe that I have met so many great people on this big scary Internet, yourself included.
That’s cool – I wonder what it would be like to meet some of my favorite writers in person ~
So I wore a scarf on my chilly bike commute this 32 degree morning and thought of you :)
Awwww! You are so kind! We will all meet someday and we will have a time.
Would we all have to have computers to talk to each other? :)
Emily,
Lucky girl(s). That’s all I have to say.
Le Clown
Your name may or may not have come up a dozen or so times.
Do you and Ben ever talk about the similarities between your lives now and when you were in Korea? That’s what I thought about when you mentioned Ben’s remarks after meeting your new friend. Going into new, unfamiliar worlds together. That sort of thing.
All.The.Time. I don’t think a day goes by that we don’t make some passing reference to Korea. C is going to learn to moan at our nostalgia pretty quickly.
It’s cool that you met up with her. I admit, the thought of meeting bloggers face-to-face terrifies me a bit. There’s a reason we introverts like the online world. :)
Does that mean I have to cancel my flight out there to pay you a surprise visit?
Either that or I’ll have to move.
I was a little nervous at first, but she is the warmest person ever so she made me comfortable in about 18 seconds.
Look at you two gorgeous, bespectacled ladies! And “flarf poetry” – love that. I have not yet met any bloggers in person, although there are so many I would be thrilled to meet.
If I ever get to NYC, I will take you our for a cuppa Joe. And I swear I won’t post pictures of you all over the place ;)
Wait, this is too much (goodness) for me. How did it come to pass that y’all met? Have I not put it together that y’all live close to each other? FUN!!!!
Emily is only about an hour away! Pretty sweet!
Yeah, we live really close, only an hour or so away! The first time we tried to meet, it didn’t work out but this time it was a win!
That’s awesome. And I promise to stop using “awesome” soon, but my kids think I’m a massive dork when I say things like “sweet” (which I’m sure is not longer cool). I may start using Spanish, ’cause they don’t speak it and can’t tell I’m a dork in Spanish when I say, “Muy suave.”
Y’all are so cute. I’m almost inspired to starting using pictures of my family…almost. That’s a big hurdle for me.
You can use awesome all you want around here. I use it so much, you’d think I’d never heard of a thesaurus.
this is simply an awesome post. I would love to meet some fellow bloggers but I would probably pass out from nervousness :0)
We’d revive you and then make you comment on all the things we show you ;)
haaa that would be funny. I think there are alot of us introverts hiding behind our screens that would love to peek out if we could only be brave :)
It really is wonderful when friendships move from online to real life.
It kind of gives you faith in your ability to make friends after college.
Let’s just say that If I lived anywhere near the east coast, I would be visiting everyone all the time. I am so intrigued by meeting bloggers in real life but I don’t know if I will ever get the chance! It’s awesome that you guys got to meet for real and spend time together. My husband sounds like B. But maybe worse. Like, the minute I say a blogger’s name he’s like “uhghgh omg stoppp” so yeah, that’s fun.
I am about 1,000 times worse than my husband when he talks about all the people he blogs with. I thought I had gotten really, really good at nodding and making it look like I was paying attention to what he was saying, and then the other day he completely called me out on not listening to him. Oops.
Do you and your mom talk about all of us when you get together or am I just flattering myself by thinking that you do?
When we first started, we talked about people constantly pretty much. But now we’ve toned it down a bit. But yeah, we only say good things or “have you read so and so’s blog yet?” stuff like that. ;)
This is so fun!!! So glad you two met…you both have amazing things to say about being women and being AMAZING women. WordPress Tour!!!
Dude! WordPress tour sounds awesome! Also, this has nothing to do with anything, but I have a bizarre Bob Dylan post in the works that I am getting so excited about and I think of you whenever I sit down to work on it ;)
AWE!!!!!! I love that!!!!! Can’t wait!!!!
It was a pretty superb afternoon, Emily! Your family is delightful, that is a silly word I don’t use often. But it was a DELIGHTFUL afternoon!!
I love that word! Thanks for being great :)
SO JEALOUS. One day I am going to win the lottery and buy everyone I follow a plane ticket to somewhere incredible and we are all going to fight over who gets to sit next to Le Clown while we also break WordPress by simultaneously blogging about the meeting.
That is EXACTLY what I picture happening too. How’d you get in my brain?
I have my ways.
How fun! My blogging world and my non-screen world have yet to overlap in such a way. I have so many blog friends I would love to meet in person. Such a fantastic crowd we are! :-)
I completely agree! I kind of want to start a blogging convention not to publicize the blog but just to have the chance to meet everyone.
I love that idea. A lot! :-)
What a nice post. I haven’t met anyone but there are several that I think I would get along with in real life. I guess you wouldn’t have written this post if it had gone badly but that would be almost more interesting. :)
Ha! I’d have to publish that kind of post anonymously!
I know Kelly myself. We used to work together years ago and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. LOVE HER!!! She is as real as she comes off in her blog. She is funny, witty, and would do anything in the world for her friends. We haven’t seen each other in a few years but I still love her to pieces. We have always said that she and I don’t know why we like each other so much….back when we became friends, she was single with no kids, I was a single mom of one (think soccer mom and Girl Scout leader) and we really had nothing in common….but we just clicked.
You just met a person that you will love for the rest of your life!!
Awwww! That is so sweet! I hope Kelly sees your comment because that is just the best thing you could say about a person. Kelly is indeed a wonderful lady.
Dammit, woman. I just cried. Not that I don’t cry all of the time… but … yeah… Rikki was my first friend that was a “grown up.” HA :)
I think it’s great when you meet someone in real life you’ve clicked with for years on here. Not that I have or anything, I live near a few people I know from WP but I can only hide behind their bins in secret.
If you ever want to put a voice and face to me, see here:
Note: Not my actual voice.
But imagine if it was.
Hehehe I’m excited to watch it. I always assume people on here are bots until they prove otherwise.
I keep meaning to put myself in a FedEx box but then I get frightened!
Do not get into a FedEx box. They are not what they seem.
Emily’s mom
Hahaha!
OMG, have you done that before? What about Purolator?
We will meet at Niagara Falls someday! No promises that Froggert won’t push you over in a wooden barrel though :/
He’d better not! I’m one of his allies ;)
I have never met a blogger in real life either. But blogging is not as popular in Europe as it is in the US.
Really? I guess we Americans can’t keep our thoughts to ourselves ;)
“sensory experience” is code for groping, right?
Busted. My blog is so XXX.
How fun is this? Meeting someone who is more than just words on a page. It’s like making your imaginary friend come to life.
good times.
That’s a good analogy! I like it!
I can feel your excitement jumping out at me from the screen. It’s always nice to meet someone you feel that you have created a great bond with from the internet. I have not met any fellow bloggers but I have met a couple of people from different parts of the webs I inhabit. They have all been good experiences…except that one time.
That one time almost always ruins the rest, eh? :/
Almost. Let the good outweigh the bad.
Emily, Kelly looks just like cousin Ridley’s wife, Sally. :)
Glad you two met.
Love,
Mom
Kelly was great! It was so fun to meet her!
meeting bloggers = amazing
You = included
I spent Saturday with a fellow blogger. It was our second meeting and I was struck by how much we have in common. Also we laughed a lot! Read all about it some time this week. Glad to see your meet up was such a blast!
I can’t wait to read about it! Bloggers really are the best people.
Is IRL a thing or did you just make that up? This is a great post and I hope to meet a blogger or two some day. It’s funny how the people in my world know who my different blogger pals are. This is such a great community.
IRL is a real thing. I like to sprinkle it around sometimes because it makes me look cutting edge. It is indeed a great community. One of these days I hope we finally get to go to Portland because then I can meet you and Jen.
Yes do that! Jen lives somewhere near me, I suppose I should start with her :)
I’m jealous that you guys got to meet! So glad that it lived up to the hype.
Truly! There is nothing better than someone being who you built them up in your mind to be!
So, hold on. There are actual people in the computer? Woah.
If that’s the case, I have some questions for you:
1) Is it noisy in there when I type? How about if I’m really, really excited?
2) How do you fit in there? Is it cramped, or is it more like that CGI Saturday morning cartoon from the 90s?
3) How did you get out of the computer?
I know, right? It’s kind of weird. AND to answer your question, yes, we can hear you. Kindly keep it down. We’ve got babies to put down for naps.
My bad.
[…] and raised in Memphis, TN, Emily is a gentle person who is funny, loves to write, and yearns for connection in a way that has served her well in her blogging career. When she writes about trying to blog, her […]