my first in real life, choreographed, planned, and executed blogger meet up was everything i hoped it would be and nothing i expected it to be.
let me explain.
i had the absolute immense pleasure of meeting manda from elf house chronicles last weekend on a quick trip to texas. manda is awesome. we both grew up in tiny towns and can both relate to what that means.
in case you are wondering – i means your parents do, in fact, know everything you do, news travels faster than lightning, and the cops don’t pull you over they just wait for you to get home because they all know where you live. so yes, growing up in mayberry definitely has some drawbacks.
anyways – back to the original story.
manda drove to a city smaller than both the towns we grew up in and met me, my husband, and my dad in a smoke filled country cafe for breakfast. having a blind-blogger-date with one person is probably nerve wracking enough. but meeting their husband and their dad at the same time? yikes.
manda took it all with flying colors. we chatted about everything over coffee and french toast: deer hunting stories, the ways of the united methodist church, wedding plans, stories of my childhood i’d rather just forget… dad even talked about mom which was really awesome. he typically doesn’t talk much about her in front of strangers. i guess manda isn’t a stranger. 😉
it was like having breakfast with an old friend i happened to run into. in that way, it was everything i expected it to be. there was very little awkwardness and only a couple of lulls in the conversation. (thank goodness for my secret weapon – my husband can keep a conversation going with a pine tree.)
but in some ways – it was kind of a let down. in my head i expected like balloons and streamers to burst out of nowhere when amanda walked in and everyone in the restaurant to stand up and clap, congratulating us on actually doing it!
yay! you finally did it! you met a blogger! congratulations YOU!
clearly, that did NOT happen. i don’t know why i was expecting it to be more exciting than it ended up being. i just had this whole scene built up in my head and playing over and over in my mind that there would be like a mini party and there would be confetti and party horns involved
and perhaps, in my mind, when manda walked in there was a halo of light around her and some imaginary celebratory horns were playing a fun song.
i guess the point to all this is the truth behind expectations. i don’t know why i had all these crazy ideas in my mind about a jubilation when manda opened the doors. it is kind of ridiculous and a little immature now that i think about it. i guess since most of my friendships online are limited to that, just a quick internet connection between two people, i romanticized what it would be like to form that bond in person.
by no means am i disappointed or let down by our breakfast.
it was simple. it was honest. i felt no pressure that i had to live up to this person i had created online. and i expected manda to be exactly who she portrayed herself to be through her blog and she was. and that was such a reassuring thing. my heart is full to know that i’m myself and she is herself on our blogs and that we are both truly representing who we are in real life on our slice of the web-o-sphere.
so maybe there wasn’t a party when the doors opened and the spotlight didn’t actually shine on manda as she entered, stage left. perhaps that is because we are really just two normal people who share our lives online. there is no party to veil who we are online – why should i have expected there to be one in real life?
anyways – this all just got me to thinkin about blogging vs. real life and it thought i’d share my thoughts with you. 🙂
would you rather have someone say “wow! you are exactly who i
expected you to be!” or “she was totally different than i thought!” if
they met you face to face? just a little something to get your wheels turnin
ps – i’d also like to mention that manda is so so SO cute. i mean – the girl can pull of yellow jeans! i was so impressed! i thought you looked like a million bucks girl! x to the o!
Veeeery interesting! I still haven't met my first blog friend IRL, and it might end up being YOU! I will try to have balloons and streamers and triumphant music ready though. I think the best you can hope for is for the person to turn out to be exactly what you expected.
I will be expecting no more than a glass of wine and a lot of girl talk! xoxo