As I previously wrote*, tomorrow I will be experiencing my very first face-to-face blogger meet-and-greet.
*Don’t bother looking for that post – it doesn’t exist. I just wanted to see if anyone is paying attention.
This whole meeting thing sort of came up on its own. Awhile back, the Grumpy Old Dude, who is Canadian, wrote a post in which he talked about traveling past Buffalo, NY. I commented that had I known he was driving through, I would have arranged to meet him and that should he ever be in the area again, to please let me know.
I really never expected much to come of that – I’ve written similar comments on other blogs without any response from the bloggers. (To be fair, most of those bloggers live at the other end of the country, closer to Buffalo, SD than to Buffalo, NY.)
Anyhoo – I was pleasantly surprised sometime later to receive an email from The Grumpy Old Dude indicating he and his son would be traveling through my area in October. I nearly fell off my computer chair – someone wants to meet ME?
NOTE TO NEWBIES: It’s very important to have an email address listed somewhere on your blog.
Plans were made, and changed, and tweaked. We agreed to meet in a public place, a restaurant near my home that I visit fairly often. After all, I really don’t know Grumpy Old Dude, other than from his blog, and for all I know maybe he’s not a 70-year-old gentleman, but rather a 25-year-old axe murderer. And, of course, he doesn’t know me, either, and after reading Not CM’s blog, it’s a wonder he’s not terrified to meet with me.
Cordelia was supposed to join us, but then had to back out due to her freelance work overload (little snot, I’m so jealous of her sometimes). Grumpy Old Dude’s son was unable to get time off from his job. Cordelia’s sisters were unable to get off work, so I called my mother-in-law – she’s always up for lunch. Mrs. Grumpy Old Dude will also be joining us.
It is now the evening before, and I can’t stop the “what-if” thoughts running through my brain:
♦ What if Grumpy Old Dude really is grumpy, and what if Mrs. Grumpy Old Dude is even grumpier than Grumpy Old Dude?
♦ What if they have trouble getting across the border? What if one of them sneezes, and the bridge officer thinks he or she has ebola?
♦ What if one of them does have ebola? I’m immuno-suppressed due to my Remicade treatments.
♦ What if they get lost? Will I have to drive myself and my mother-in-law to one of the international bridges to find them?
♦ What if my mother-in-law can’t climb into my new SUV?
♦ What if they get here, but then don’t like me? I tend to be rather shy and socially inept – I don’t know why I agreed to have lunch with STRANGERS!
♦ What if they want to *gasp* – TAKE PICTURES! Trust me, when I posted that photo on my About page, I chose one where I was several years younger and more than several pounds lighter. What if they don’t like FAT OLD PEOPLE?
♦ What if the glass of wine I’m going to have tonight, to calm my nerves, causes a flare-up of my ulcerative colitis tomorrow? How embarrassing would it be if I had to make a sudden rush away from the table?
♦ What if I don’t have the wine, and then can’t sleep because of my nerves? How much conversational sense will I make if I’m falling asleep at the lunch table?
And so, I face tomorrow with a combined sense of excitement and trepidation. I keep telling myself to just buck up – after all, I can walk into a room at the County Hall where there are dozens of attorneys, paralegals, County personnel, and people buying houses, and have absolutely no qualms about striking up conversations with any of them. I can drive to the home of a client I’ve never met, and handle myself as well as anyone else. Heck, I even once met with a client at a nursing home, and she and I had a grand old chat. Surely, I can manage a blogger-to-blogger lunch.
Stay tuned for the follow-up post.
Oh, and if any other bloggers can make it to the Buffalo, NY area tomorrow, please come join us. You can email me for the time and location – NOTE TO NEWBIES: It’s very important to have an email address listed somewhere on your blog.
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I love to hear from my readers. You may comment on this post, comment on my Facebook or Twitter pages, or email me at cordeliasmom2012@yahoo.com
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Images by: Chris Connelly, and Valerie Everett, and Freddie Peña, respectively
Cordelia's Mom, Still 
Totally had be going there. I was cursing WP app for skipping posts in my reader again. Whew! 😉
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I think you’ve become one of my most dedicated followers, and I totally love it!
(I actually thought about putting in a fake link, but then figured that would be too mean.)
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I like your style! (I would send the fake link to the IRS website or something else even more crazy that I should not type out loud here…). And really, it is my OCD! I *know* there are meds for this sort of thing, but….
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Hope you and Archon have fun! :0)
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Thanks. It’s now the Morning Of, and I’m still a bit nervous about the whole thing.
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Oh, hey, you’re meeting Archon? So cool. I’m sure all will go well. We Canadians are pretty laid back. If anything he may bore you by apologizing too much – Sorry.
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If you ever find yourself in or near the Buffalo, NY area, I would love to meet you, too. So long as you don’t try to cause any riots.
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Absolutely – but I cannot be held responsible if lunch turns into some kind of an iternational incident , those things just happen to me. I was sitting havng lunch with my American girlfriend in Boston one day (many years ago) when she suddenly jumped up and said loudly “Are you an FBI Agent?” Not taking her seriously -she was normally pretty level headed but a bit paranoid as many Americans are of their government – I answered: “What makes you ask that?” Which is, apparently exactly the wrong way to answer that question as she responded: “I knew it! No Agent is allowed to lie when asked that so you guys always change the topic or ask another question.” At which she stomped from the room announcing to one and all : “I’m not having lunch with any FBI agent!”
Somehow my life just happens that way.
Have a great lunch CM!
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What a funny story. I assume she wasn’t your girlfriend for much longer after that? I’m surprised she didn’t ask if you were CIA – those guys are even more secretive than the FBI agents.
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Yeah we did break up not long after that. Honestly though, i find a lot of Americans are suspicious of their government. Believe ot or not, Canadians have no such issues and kind of consider the gov’t laugh. I think she did not consider tthe CIA because , in theory, they have no authority to operate in the US wrt Amrican citizens (or at least that was true then – not so much now). ha! It left me a bit taken aback.
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So you’re having lunch with a Canadian, eh? Be nice and polite.
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I’m American. I don’t know how to be polite. But I can be me instead of Not CM, so that’s something.
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Somehow I missed this post. One of LadyRyl’s boyfriends had call-forwarding on his phone plan. Finally pissed after too many 3 AM drunken calls from friends(?), he would set it to ring at a Funeral Home, or a what-time-is-the-next-bus line at the local transit service. 😳
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Ah, catching up an all the old posts in anticipation of our visit? I appreciate it, but you know we’ll have plenty to talk about – the waitress will probably have to throw us all out of the restaurant because they need the table for the next group. See you soon.
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