Meeting new friends and renewing acquaintances

"Meeting at the quilt show"

I was lucky enough to meet two new friends that I had only known online, through Quiltart. We stumbled across each other online when we realized we lived in the greater DC area. What fun! What a teensy risk to take, to meet up and hope they were as nice in person.

When you correspond with someone online, isn't it common to imagine what they look like? Don't you start to form an image of them in your mind? Much like a novel, you begin to compose a picture of them.

When you meet there is a moment of accepting that reality may differ from your mental picture, then you are so happy to meet a new friend, one you know you have much in common with since you've been "talking" for months after all! The modern pen-pal.

A-Moo-Ha hanging with her friends!

 Another happy moment came at our little guild show.
I kept running into a woman who looked familiar, and we chatted at each shop like old friends, until she finally mentioned where she lived. I said, are you in a guild there, I spoke to one... she turned,  a lightbulb went off, and we gleefully hugged each other!! We had a moment during my lecture where we realized from across the room, that we were bonded in alike-ness. We 'got' each other! And here we are, together again!

That's the stuff life is made of.

Pretty Peonies at the lunch table

At the show, I was able to see friends I rarely get a chance to talk to, but we have time to catch up because we are there all day. What fun! I sat at lunch with two such friends, and heard stories about their lives that I had never heard. Oh my people are so interesting!

So very pretty!

 I taught two one-hour workshops over the two days, and felt a connection to the people who attended. They began in the short time of less than an hour, to feel like friends. Friends I might not hear from again, but you never know. I tell them, email or call me! They probably think I'm just being polite, but I mean it.

When you share a love of quilts, you start from a place of companionship. Maybe it's that way among other groups, certainly I feel a kinship among dancers, but fiber lovers are warm and cozy. Like their quilts.

After the show was taken down, my quilts collected, I headed home to recap the day with my husband.
We sat on the porch, a glass of wine in one hand and a glass of water in the other, I regaled him with stories of the day. I told him about conversations I had, and the idea for a book that came to me while there. He told me about his day. Cole watched the birds argue with the squirrels over the seeds.
My husband is also my friend.
I work alone and spend most of my day alone, so I cherish moments shared with nice people.
LeeAnna