hands across America

I am so impressed with the Internet. Last night The Man and I began watching Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (No, I have never seen it. No, I have not read the book. No, I do not know what happens in the end.) Anyway, at one point we took an ice cream break and I checked my email and peeked in on the voting. I have to admit, I had a moment. I began to think about all the people I've met since I've started a blog.

At the risk of sounding cheesy and stupid, I have to tell you that I was overwhelmed with thankfulness for my Internet friends. I got emails and tweets of support from a bunch of the coolest people in webland.
Take June, for example. My sister discovered her last year and quickly became a worshiper I mean fan. Shortly after finding June online, we got to meet her in real life and now she lives close by. I couldn't have imagined meeting Internetty people in real life a few years ago.

It wasn't so long ago I remember hearing the the phrase windows on the computer and was totally confused. The Internet was not a vocabulary word I recognized even my senior year of high school.
Contrast that with last year at She Speaks, I walk into a room full of bloggers and these two blogging sisters walk up to me in recognition. From my blog. From the Internet. I keep up with Megan and Jami through their blogs and I'm so glad I met them.

I didn't have email until my sophomore year of college, and even then I remember sitting in my dad's office at our house, waiting for AOL to dial up. It took seven minutes just to connect. And that didn't even include actually sending an email.
Now, people I meet online end up being friends in real life. Like Kimba from A Soft Place to Land. She has a sister who lives nearby and when she came to visit, a bunch of us scrambled to meet her for real like. And Jen, who I've known of for years, but only since she's had a blog have I really gotten to know her.
The ultimate crazy is this: I was so sad when my sister moved out of town. But then, oh joy! She started a blog and now we have all kinds of bloggy adventures together.

I never would have imagine writing on the scary internet. Or reading what other people write on the scary Internet. But now, I can't get enough of Jennifer P. and Mindless Junque and Chickadee and Through A Glass Darkly and Out on a Limb. And then there's that weird Twitter that I'm still trying to figure out, with friends like Fussy and Karla and Robin.

There are so many more. Bloggers and non-bloggers alike. So thank you. For not being scary. For writing and entertaining and being funny and supportive and thoughtful and useful and all the other 'fuls. And thank you for voting for this small blog. I promise to have a post tomorrow that doesn't mention voting. As long as you keep voting. Every 24 hours. Hallelujah and Amen.