Meeting Jane (bluedaisy)

Friendships in the blogging world are a little different than in person friendships...but no less real. There are things I know about my blogger friends that I have no idea about with my real life friends. I get to peek into their journal and read complete thoughts and sense their true and deep feelings about issues, while my real life friends are usually interrupted mid-thought when a child needs a diaper change/break up a fight/run to catch child before he falls to his death off the slide. I get insights into their frustrations and joys, strengths and weaknesses that I only get glimpses of in my real life friends, since most people pull it together and make good appearances for get togethers.

And yet, I don't know what my blogger friends sound like. Or if they twirl their hair around their fingers when they talk or how tall they are or if they hold a coffee cup by the handle or by gripping it with their whole hand or two hands. Mannerisms, habits, physical characteristics are all things I take for granted with my real life friends, but I have no inkling of with my blogger friends.

Of course, many blogs I read are actually people I knew in person before. Others are total strangers who I've for some reason felt a connection to and now consider my blogger friends.

Yesterday I had the good fortune to meet a blogger friend and make her a real life friend. ;)

Jane and her children came to visit me. And she is lovely. And her kids are too.

Things I learned about Jane:

1) She is taller than I expected. She looks so tiny in pictures, and she IS tiny...I swear her waist was about as big around as my upper arm. But she's tall too! She tried to impress me by going all goth by dying her hair the night before, but there was no need. She is so pretty and friendly and just...well...lovely.

2) Don't believe anything she says about her children in her blog. Actually, I don't think Jane complains about her children as much as some bloggers do -cough,cough-ME-cough,cough. Her Michael was so polite and friendly and pleasant and so so so cute. And Liam was crazy about Shadow from the moment he hopped out of the car, and he played so nice with everything and everyone. And Chloe. Oh! Is there anything better than a 9 month old? She gave a pout-pout face ONCE in 3 hours...the rest of the time was smiles and claps and just melt-your-heart cuteness. She even let me carry her around a little bit...ah...baby fix.

3) I felt no awkwardness at all. I kind of felt like she walked in my house as if she'd been here a million times and we just started talking as if we'd done this a million times before. I mean, she already knows I'm a horrible housekeeper, my kids are tv freaks, I don't decorate, I'm not a good hostess, etc etc. And she still opted to come over (sucker). So all the things I normally feel awkward about I could just kind of shrug off. I even hugged her hello and goodbye. I KNOW. I'm not even a hugger. But I felt like I was greeting a friend I haven't seen in a while, rather than someone I haven't actually met before.

4) She is just very kind. I mean, she let Andrew talk to her about the lunch menu for school in exhausting detail. And she didn't even fall asleep and drool...not even a little. And then after than scintillating lecture, he made her look at his disgusting loose tooth. Ew. She didn't even kick him away in disgust. Kind.

What a gift this little blogging world is!***

***Unless of course, Jane now thinks I am a desperate, crazy, stalker-lady. I should know by the end of the week. If she makes her blog invitation only. Or writes an entry about a woman she'll just call "Janelle" who served her water out of the tap and a strange wilty salad for lunch and whose dust bunnies tried to kidnap Chloe and make her part of their kingdom. Then I'll know.


I of course forgot to get out the doggone camera. Here's Michael (4), Andrew, and Liam (3). Oh...and Shadow. Because Liam wanted to make sure that Shadow was in the picture.

Andrew took this picture of Jane and I as she was loading her kids into the car to go back home. She looks a lot like my friend Pamela, I think. And she doesn't even look a little scared in this picture...so maybe she thought it went well too ;)


Andrew requested a silly shot. Nice.

Thanks again for coming over!