Stories are the thread of connection. They’re like promiscuous sex. We can dally and fool around, or we can go all the way.
I’m glad I went all the way with Debra Fetterly.
Debra lives in greater Los Angeles. I found her writing a little over two years ago. Whether she writes about California’s history or its wine, its challenges or her San Gabriel backyard, she imbues her words with the welcoming soul that she is.
I was lucky to meet her in person last November. But on this trip-to-Australia-that-won’t-end, I got to spend an afternoon with her. At her house. In the very backyard she describes. I met Darwin the turtle and shared a cupcake with her granddaughters and saw Jay’s exquisite model train.
In the harried pace that is travel today, it was a gift to sit in a garden. To nurture connections. To slow down and just be.
Thank you Debra and Jay and the rest of the crew for letting us crash a family gathering. We’re glad you chose to spend part of our two-day delay with us.
Get to know Debra at her blog Breathe Lighter by clicking here: Click to Breathe Lighter.
Have you met any of your online buddies in person? What was the experience like? Describe it in a comment today.
28 Comments
I like the story… And the comparison with promiscuous sex..
What a wonderful way to spend the day 🙂
You are blessed Andra in that you are able to make the kind of connections that you are able to make.
Amazing turtle! I have met some of your online readers like Lou Mello and Michael Carnell. They are even more funny and engaging in real life.
Thank you. It was great meeting you too. (See Andra! She found me funny and engaging!)
Sorry, the only one I have met is this crazy, walking lady from South Carolina and her ever patient husband NUN…I’m not sure they want me to share the MOMA or Pain Q stories…she could tell them better than me anyway.
Y’all are killing me. I love Darwin, he is cool. But where are the pictures of the train? I know there are trains in Debra’s backyard. Or at least there used to be. You know your readers want train pictures.
Finally getting to meet fellow bloggers has been a motivation for me to keep going. As I have gotten to know these guys, some of them have become closer to me than some people I see every day.
Here are three examples, each with embedded links that tell of other times. As close as we are geographically, sooner or later that probably should happen also.
http://villageundertaker.wordpress.com/2012/08/02/officially-a-tradition/
http://villageundertaker.wordpress.com/2014/05/21/now-a-destination/
http://andersonlayman.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-wonders-of-intertunnel.html
BTW…ever get Down Under?
Oh Andra. You’ve made my day! And, Oh Debra. I feel a phone call coming on! Friends are just the best. And now I know that if I book a flight to Australia, I’ll end up on Debra’s backyard… why didn’t I think of that before! OXOX to you all.
An idyllic way to spend time in your “lost” day – though it really wasn’t lost, but found, instead in the welcoming arms and home of Debra. Boy-o-boy! That IS breathing lighter. Lovely, Andra.
Yes. I have met a fellow blogger over a charming lunch in her home.
Nope. Never made a friend online that I’ve actually met in person. I’ve had readers show up at readings and listeners show up at gigs, but I’m still a social media virgin.
I haven’t yet, but I will when I come see you. 😀
Still haven’t met an on-line person. Not many wander into my neck of the woods er sand pile.
I have, several of them. I have nothing but positive experiences. I even started the website Lefty Pop with 2 of them and it’s going great.
The good thing about meeting fellow writers is you share something pretty deep, the love of the written word and how you express it to others.
Great story, glad you went all the way.
Ditto what John W. Howell said. I’ve not met anyone in person who I met on-line. I think that we’re all a bunch of introverts who need an extrovert to get us together. That’s why your stories of meeting bloggers are so cool. You show us the way.
What a treat to have the opportunity to visit with a friend when your travel plans went so far off the rails. I have’t met any online buddies in person but I hope to someday soon. 🙂 Actually there have been a few near misses when I’ve seen photos on some local folks blogs that were taken on the same day/same time as mine but we just didn’t put two and two together until after.
I have to admire you, Andra…..energy you have:)
What a lovely outcome from the delay! Brilliant!
I recently met a fellow blogger, El Guapo, during my last biz trip to NYC. He and his wife met me for dinner at an outdoor food festival. They were both charming, witty and engaging. Great first experience with bloggy world meets real world. Now I’m less worried about the next one! 🙂
Yes, I have met one of my blogger friends in person,and it was a most delightful experience. It still is. We are in touch, and she has become a treasured personal friend.
how wonderful for both of you, (and the turtle). i have met a mother and son who are both bloggers who are connected through mutual friends here, though we have never crossed paths until we figured out the connection through blogging )
If you have to be stranded, what a great way to spend part of that time…relaxing in someone’s backyard. I have not met any fellow bloggers yet (I trust I will, though), but I have become friends over the past eight years with others that I know through a musician’s website. I found a wonderful friend in Green Bay as well as others from around the country and Canada. We have gone on road trips together and met up in Nashville for CMA fest. I’ve had awesome experiences and I miss some of these people greatly because I haven’t been able to travel much. Meeting people via the internet can be not so great (dating experiences) and they can be absolutely warm and fuzzy. The latter has been most true for me.
Looking forward to meeting many bloggers!! After the dream I had the other night, I feel like I’ve met you and MTM. 🙂
I’m so happy that being stranded in LA turned into such a beautiful opportunity. Whenever a door closes…
My initial online friends were all either relatives or people I’ve known from other places. Thanks to you, my online friends list has expanded however; and I think it would be wonderful to meet any or all of my new friends someday. I cannot imagine that such meetings would be anything other than wonderful (maybe I’ll win the lottery)! 🙂
Well, that would be YOU!
I am never thrilled with my photo, but I am just overjoyed to see Darwin on your pages, Andra. 🙂 And you are so welcome anytime, as I’m positive you know. The reason it is so easy to include you in a family gathering and to be so eager to spend time with you under any circumstance is because you are so delightful. You know how to BE a friend, and that’s why you have so many in return. I know that each person who spends time with you “through print” would also be eager to spend time chatting with you–face to face. It will be, for me, a treasured afternoon. 🙂
I LOVE that turtle, and my daughter is in Pasadena, so maybe I will meet this lady one day myself. And the turtle. I have not gotten to meet any blogging friends yet, but surely it will happen some day!
yes, I’ve met many of my blogging friends (and honestly only one ever disappointed me) and every single time (at blogging conferences or just for a photo shoot..one of my friends is a photographer who did my family portraits last year) I feel like I’m meeting family.
Doing Listen To Your Mother, going to BlogHer and other conferences has enriched my life in ways I can’t even begin to express gratitude about and allowed me to meet the women (and some of the men) that are incredible writers, mothers, friends and my “tribe”.
I’m so glad you got to meet and spend the day with a person you connect with and admire. Plus the turtle and the garden had to be lovely.
I met Marian Kent, blogging poet extraordinaire three and a half years ago, and she set the bar high for translating these online acquaintances into tangible friendships. And then, of course, I had breakfast with a gorgeous, crazy woman from Charleston and her charming husband, and they reaffirmed my belief that the Internets are sometimes a miraculous place of connection.
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