From URL to IRL

On the tails of Kyria's visit, I thought I'd talk about how so many of my blogging friendships have progressed from URL to IRL. I've been blogging since the summer of 2008 so am definitely one of the "old school" bloggers. I started blogging at a time when most of my peers were getting married and starting families. Meanwhile, at age 27, I was nearly perpetually single. I was happy to be the 5th wheel but my social options started to diminish since having kids makes it much harder to do things like girls weekends, dinners out, etc. But luckily, blogging allowed me to connect with all sorts of (mostly) women across the continent who had similar interests; namely, running and/or reading. 

My first blogger meet-up was in the fall of 2010. I'd been friends with a woman, Amber, who is no longer blogging (womp womp!), for several years. We decided to virtually train together for the 2010 Portland marathon. At the time, she lived in Kamloops, BC so it was a destination race for both of us. She picked me up at the Vancouver airport and then we did a 5-day road trip down to Portland. It may sound odd/crazy to go on a road trip with someone you've never met in person but our friendship was at the point where we were exchanging Blackberry messages (remember when everyone had Blackberries?) on a daily basis and had done many google hang-outs/video chats. We had the time of our lives on that trip and an innocent bystander would never have guessed it was our first time meeting in person. We also met up with another woman who is no longer blogging at the marathon. To this day, Amber is one of my closest friends. 

That was just the start, though. I've done countless meet-ups and hosted friends from all over the place over the last 13 years. These relationship were and are incredibly significant. It's notable that I have been in the weddings of 2 bloggers, gave a blessing at another blogger's wedding, and had 2 tables of blogger friends at my wedding - including Kyria, of course! 

I'm glad that I'm feeling ready to dip my toe back into travel again now that the boys are a little bit older so I can start to reconnect in a more meaningful way with these women. There is no replacement for spending time in person with a good friend, in my opinion! I'll be meeting up with Amber in the Banff region of Canada this summer. It will be our first time seeing each other in over 6 years as I last saw her at my wedding when she was pregnant with her first child! We now are moms to 2 kids each so a lot has changed over the last 6 years!

I'll be forever grateful for the friendships I developed through blogging. These ladies (and one guy - hi John!) came into my life at a time when I was feeling a little out of place with the friends I'd made in college and at work. Of course I was very happy that my friends were getting married and starting families, but I had an out-of-place sort of feeling. Meeting similar-minded people was so good for me. If you are reading this blog, you know how well you can feel you know a person - especially once you start to comment back and forth on each others' blogs and especially when you take those friendships to email/text. 

I'm a little sad that most of my original blogging friend gang are no longer blogging, although I recognize how hard it is to fit everything in when you are juggling career, family, friends, etc. But I'm glad that I've met a whole new batch of people through blogging in the last couple of years! With my return to work travel, maybe I'll cross paths with some of you in the future!!

Have you ever turned a relationship from URL to IRL?