Good Times

Bleah's post about meeting blogger friends in real life inspired me to do one of my own, since I don't think I've ever done one before. Warning: This is one of those rambling sorts of blog posts that I posted mainly for my own sense of sanity. I just needed to post about it because I can. ;) It made me feel better to think back on these awesome memories, and since I have a headache, I needed this pick-me-up. :]

I have met three blogger friends in real life. I don't normally get to do things like that, but my parents knew these girls' parents, and God worked it all out so we could meet. I loved spending time with these awesome girls!

I met Georgie Penn and her sister, Ebee, in real life July 27, 2009. Here's the blog post from my other blog.

L-R: Georgie, Me, Ebee

My heart sank as the RV pulled away. It had been an amazing, fun-filled week because of the visit of my dear friend Georgie and her family. And now they were gone.

I swallowed hard and tried to think of all the good things about their visit. It had been absolutely amazing. We hadn’t met before at all, but in no time we were getting along perfectly. She was awesome, and I was going to miss her.

I’m not sure when my friendship with Georgie started. I could say that it started when my dad and Georgie’s mom got to know each other through blogging, or when my mom and Georgie’s mom got to know each other too… or the day Georgie left a comment on my blog. Whenever it was, she and I were familiar with each other, but it wasn’t until September 1, 2008 that things really took off.

It was the day that I’d been talking to my dad about how I’d like to hook up with some more Christian homeschooled girls who shared the same essential beliefs and values that I do. In a flash, Dad mentioned Georgie, and I thought it would be fun to get to know her better. Dad pulled a few strings, and that same afternoon Blue and I had our very first IM conversation.

Over the next few months, we found out more about each other’s personalities and got a lot closer. Georgie encouraged my interest in Lord of the Rings, and now we are both big fans! One day we were discussing which hobbits we are most like, and came to the conclusion that was the birthing of our new nicknames. I said that I was going to call her Pippin, and she said I could if only she could call me Sam. So, that’s what we’ve been henceforth, thus the title.

The rest is pretty much history. Georgie and I became inseparable. We talked almost nonstop everyday. We made each other laugh, prayed for each other, and looked forward to the day when we would meet in person. Finally, this past Monday, that day came.

When Georgie and I first found out that her family might be moving to Kentucky, we were ecstatic, since I live right along that way. Like pieces to a puzzle, things fell into place. Georgie’s dad got the job, and the family prepared to move. Then they left and it was only a matter of time until they arrived.

We weren’t sure when they would get here so it was an agonizing wait for me. First I thought it might be Saturday, then they didn’t get to my home state till Sunday night, and decided they’d come on Monday but weren’t sure when. Those seemed like the longest days of my life. They surprised us on Monday afternoon though by calling to let us know they’d be here in thirty minutes. Everyone scrambled around, trying to pick up the house and make things ready for their arrival.

My family and I went outside on the grass, extremely antsy. We knew that any moment the motorhome would pull around the corner, which led to a few false alarms. When the motorhome actually did make itself known, I felt myself start to shake. She was really here!

Georgie, Ebee, and their mother hopped out of the car and started crossing the street. I wasn’t sure what to think. We met in the middle of the road, and Georgie and I hugged. Things were awkward at first; after all, we were so used to being behind a computer screen!

By the end of the week we lost any uncomfortableness we had left. We talked a lot, got caught in a severe storm, made up a story about an Evil Seaweed Qween, gave identities to toys that had no identities before, quoted movies, took a ton of photos, and laughed hysterically in the rain. It was spindackular! (Spindackular is a word we made up that means better than awesome.)

Georgie and Eyebright left yesterday. We were all really sad and since then I’ve been lonely, but no matter how hard it was to say goodbye, I wouldn’t have changed this experience for the world. I feel so much closer to them both after having met in person, and already our long-distance friendship has blossomed. It was a totally awesome time, and I’m looking forward to when we can meet again!

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This past November, I got to meet another blogging friend, Ashley. Here's the story, as told by both of us, quoted from the typecast we put up earlier today.

A: How did we meet? Well, like I said, we first met on homeschoolblogger.com. But we met in person in November of 2010. Wanna tell more of the story, Sky?
S: Sure. Actually, it’s kind of an interesting story. I think we met in 2005, when I first started blogging - but we didn’t ever really talk or anything like that. I just knew that there was a person out there named Ashley. Well, Ashley stopped blogging for a while, but when she came back, I got to know her again, but still, I didn’t know her that well. One day she sent me a message asking if I had Yahoo or MSN messenger. Random, right? Why did you do that, Ash?
A: Why did I do that? I don’t even remember why I did that. I think that I was bored and just wanted someone to talk to. But anyways, she wrote me back, telling me that our moms actually knew each other. Ironic, right?
S: Very! So, since they knew each other, I was allowed to IM her, and a couple days later, we talked on the phone. We hit it off really easily. Like, REALLY easily.
A: Yep. That was really fun. We started writing our first story that summer. One, that under no uncertain terms, would we ever show anybody. It’s somewhere on my computer, hiding in complete and utter shame.
S: *laughs* It was terrible! We wrote a couple more stories, but none of them really got finished or turned out. They all pretty much stunk. But it was a start. That’s when we first started to write stories by alternating paragraphs. I think we both realized our stories stank and then took a while off. Then, we both got an amazing idea and couldn’t help but write it together. That story became Love Anyway, and we wrote it in 51 days with 73,000 words. That was only the beginning.
A: Now, together, we’ve finished two stories, but have plans for like....3 more series’ that we want to write together, along with random books here and there that need to be written. But of course, that’ll have to wait until later, because we have a hard time working on more than one story at a time. So right now, we’re working on Becoming Bekah, and then the other three books in this series.
S: And then, after that, who knows how many more books we’ll write? *grin* It’s our goal to get published. Anyway, so we were friends for two years before we met in person this past November. It was something we had both prayed SO HARD for, and it finally happened.
A: We had such a good time! I flew out to her house and we spent a week together, writing, talking, staying up late, and you guessed it, LAUGHING!
S: Oh my gosh, yes. We have so many inside jokes! Ash, do you want to show them a picture from when we met? So that we can prove we actually did meet? xD
A: Sure. We can do that...

(c) Ashen Sky. Photo credit goes to Sky's brother! :D

S: So, there ya go. The story of how we met.

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Well, I don't know whether that was boring or not... but it helped me feel better to type it out, and share with you about my awesome buddies! There are so many other girls I've met in real life, that aren't blogger buddies, and I'd like to send a huge shout-out to you too! And you, my followers, are the best. *hugs*

If you haven't checked this out already, please do! I've got my Avary post all ready to go up sometime this week. :)