I came from a very large Mormon family (13 kids-yes!). So as you can imagine the offspring resulting from a family that size is... sizable! There are some extended family members that if I passed them on the street I would think they were strangers. Actually, it has likely happened. However, I discovered a new advantage to blogging this past spring. We end up being connected through our many mindless posts. It's more than just voyeurism. It's a way of being closer.
I was staying at a sister's house and had just finished using the facilities and when I emerged I found myself face to face with one of those would-be strangers. He had married one of my sister's daughters and I had only met him once a couple years earlier at a family camp out. I hadn't any reference points to chat with him about at the time so we'd had minimal conversation and then moved on. But now... Oh now was a different story. I totally recognized him, and I wanted him to know that I now knew exactly who he was after reading my niece's scrap-book perfect blog for the past year.
"You're Tim!" I said (then a small pause) "You are an incredibly gifted cake baker, you just got into pharmacy school at the University of Utah (congrats btw), now where is that new baby boy?"
He replied with "You're Kelly! You have a bamboo forest, you hate mother's day and your husband just returned from Iraq..." Geez, who knew the husbands were reading along : ) It was oddly nice to have a new relative who seemed more... relative. As we sat around visiting, one of my children wandered through the room. Another nephew I had lost touch with said "Is this Big Boy or Middle Boy?" Another follower.
9 comments:
what a neat story! This post is so true! We can have our own lives and still still feel connected through blogs. :) LOVE IT!
Great point. I like staying in touch with people via blogs. It is better than the annual Christmas letter method. You get to know someone better through their blog.
How cool is that? I've never connected with a family member through blogs but I often feel like I actually know some of the people who's blogs I read.
Loved this post.
This has happened in my family too. I have 64 cousins... too many to keep up with. But through blogs we are staying updated on daily events and actually TALKING to each other at reunions now. I love this blog thing!
Wow, I felt honored to be brought up on such a talented bloggers post. It makes me all excited to think that we know each other a lot better now that we both have blogs. It sure makes the world a lot smaller. I find myslef seeing lots of similarities that we have and wishing I were more like you in some of our differences. It is great to have even more great examples out there then just those ones right around us that we see on a regular basis.
Dallas
Thanks for calling me talented! You are the bomb.
I have eight kids in my family and have never been good at calling each other and just talking. Now we all blog and I communicate EVERY single day. It is beautiful. I know just how you feel!
I wish my immediate and extended family read my blog like yours does (do?). My sister-in-law reads it, but that's it. Lucky.
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