When Blogs Collide

Remember when Wilma visited Homer and Marge in Springfield? When Fonzie got accidentally transported into Deep Space Nine? Remember when Allie McBeal appeared suddenly in a Sopranos sub-plot, only to get wacked with a celery stick by Big Pussy? Neither do I, but that was what it was like this weekend when B., CEO and lead sculptor of the fabulous EuroTrippin blog, swept through Vienna with her two daughters and nimble accomplice, J. I felt like I was in the middle of a cross-merchandized, prime-time superstar movie of the week event. When I met B.'s youngest kid, all I could do was blurt, "I've seen pictures of you on The Internet!"

Live and in-person, B. was, as her advance press has suggested, supremely awesome. She impressed me as smart, sweet, and apparently able to blitz through several major tourist attractions per hour. I especially liked the way she and J. talked with their daughter. It was hard to get their attention at first, because they were both beaming so furiously at my own baby girl, V.

Since I've read her blog, which is all pretty personal stuff, I felt like I already knew B. But it was clear--as we asked each other deep questions like, 'Um, what do you do?'--that we only know each other through our nouns and adverbs, in bits and bytes. For me, it was the first time a virtual acquaintance materialized in front of me as a verifiable human bean. Then again, maybe it was just like meeting anyone whom you know through their art or work.

It felt surreal and untethered and cozy all at once, like a rendezvous with a figment of my imagination. I guess that i write all this stuff, then lob it out there into the blah-blah-sphere, but still I think of it mostly as some sort of befuddled narcissistic pastime. Then you meet someone real. You've never seen them before, but they seem to be a friend of yours....

It's amazing how people find each other these days.