Why?

People note how often I go to meetups with other bloggers and ask why I do it.  The answer is simple -- I want to make friends!  I want to deepen my friendship with promising online acquaintances. 

Experience has taught me that you don't really know someone until you meet them in person.  Being in their physical presence quickly tells you stuff you'll never learn online.  Like how pleasant they are, how fit they are, how they carry themselves.  In five minutes, you quickly grasp a person's basic nature and social aspirations.

When you encounter someone on the Internet and they seem nice, why wouldn't you want to get to know them better?  That, I believe, is a better question than the one posed to me.

Next weekend, I'm taking a long motorcycle trip up north to visit another blogger whom I've never met before.  Her name is Aimee and she blogs at the humbly-named, Just Another Crafting Blog.  I admire Aimee's exceptional skill at sewing but, even more, I like her personality.  She's sweet, welcoming and full of joy.  Everything I look for in a friend. 

Last January, Aimee sewed me an apron which is cuter than cute.  I blogged about it in deservingly gushy terms.  Check out that post here.

I'm looking forward to some time in the saddle.  Riding a motorcycle on long trips is fundamentally different from buzzing around town.  Your mind moves into a different mode.  If I hadn't experienced this, I wouldn't have believed it.  Your brain, freed of normal concerns, meditates on its own.  You get the deepest thoughts while riding for hours, ideas you can't pump out in the hurly-burly of regular life.

Have you done a blogger-meetup?  Do you want to?  Unless you live on Mars, there's a possibility I could knock on your door some day and ask you to join me for a cup of tea.