When Bloggity Worlds Collide

I've been pretty upfront about the fact that I didn't start a blog to meet people. I started a blog to document our lives for Alex so that one day he'll be able to look back and have a sense of who his daddy and I are as people, not just as parents, and I started a blog to try to keep in touch a little bit better with the friends I've had for years and years. But new friends? Not a goal. Honestly, the possibility of that never entered my mind.

But back in the spring I did an online Bible study that Lauren organized, which meant that suddenly there were about 25 other blogs I was visiting. So over the course of ten weeks, I learned a good bit about the people participating. And I developed a relationship with several of them. Granted, it's not EXACTLY like it happens in real life, but you do get a sense of who you could hang out with, and who you could confide in, and who looks at life from a similar perspective. And before you know it, people feel like friends. Not "online friends" or "those people on the internet" - but friends.

Color me surprised.

A couple of months ago, I got an email from Robin that said, bascially, "Hey, what if we took a trip to Savannah to go to Paula Deen's restaurant?" She mentioned some of the logistics that would be involved, and then: "Are you scared?"

To which I replied: "I ain't skeered." I mean, I AM from Mississippi. Them there Texas gals don't skeer us one iota. They make THINK that their hair is bigger, but they've got nothin' on us. Trust me. When I was a freshman in college, my bangs had their own zip code.

So we started to plan.

Turns out, Addie's coming. Flying here from "Missourah," as my mama says. Theresa, too. She's flying from Arizona to Texas, then riding with Robin from Texas to Alabama. Lori is driving down from Ohio. Then the five of us are getting in my car, and we're driving to Savannah. And going to Paula Deen's restaurant. And, I imagine, talking incessantly. I'm dying to hear Addie sing, so I'm going to, you know, make her.

But more than anything I'm looking forward to just VISITING - getting the stories behind the stories that we read on each other's blogs. The neatest thing is that all the preliminaries are out of the way...so we can jump straight into the deep end of the conversational waters. And I love that.

All that to say: I'll be a little scarce 'round these parts for the next couple of days. Because I'm going to Savannah with my stranger-friends. :-) Only they're really not strangers at all...I know their hearts, even if I've never seen their faces in person. And the fun starts in about 6 hours.

So if you think about it, please pray for our safe travel. Robin, Theresa and Lori have a LOT of driving in front of them for the next three or four days...and I'm driving everybody from here to Savannah. So you might want to also pray for my visitors' nerves. :-)

I've actually gone back and forth about taking my laptop with me...David has teased me about how the girls and I will end up riding around looking for a wi-fi hotspot so that we can "liveblog" our trip. But I'm thinking that I'm going to leave the computer at home...I don't want to be so busy writing about the trip that I forget to enjoy it. And I think that, between the five of us, you'll get to hear alllll the details when we get home.

See y'all in a few!