talk about a small small world ...

I almost don't know where to start with this story ... but the bottom line is that we all really are only separated by just a few degrees - it's just amazing how small the world can be at times ...

(image courtesy of miki travel, uk)

I've said before that I live in a very small town - a beautiful postcard-perfect coastal New England town. For some, like my husband who grew up here, this small town is his Mayberry - for him, there is a wonderful comfort to living in a town where his roots are deep and everyone knows everyone. But when I say that I live in a small town, I don't always mean it in that same endearing way - I have to admit that I have a love/hate relationship with this town. Maybe it's because I don't have the same lifelong history as my husband, or maybe I'm just bored by the small town cliques and politics, or maybe it's because I'm still a Florida girl at heart and will never fully embrace New England life. Either way, I'm not inherently comfortable in a place where everyone knows everyone - the gossip and the chitty-chat can get pretty ridiculous here. Comparatively speaking, I'd say I live a fairly private life and stay away from the drama that so many others thrive on.

This preference for privacy is probably a big part of why I like it here in blogland - blogging is a relatively anonymous forum where I can drop that small-town self-consciousness - that guardedness that I carry with me each day. Since no one in my 'real' life knows I'm here, I'm free to share, vent, compare, ask questions, and connect with all sorts of different bloggers from all over the place ... risk free. Here, I could potentially bitch and moan about whoever and whatever I want because it would never cross paths with my 'real' life - or so I thought.

Back in the late winter, as I was just starting to find my way as a blogger, I introduced myself to Kim at What am I going to be when I grow up? ... I just love her blog and we have very similar stories - both former teachers and moms of 2 girls, both lost a father to cancer, and her theme of 'what am I going to be' really speaks to me. While following Kim's blog, another reader's name popped up a lot in the comments, someone whose personality stood out to me ... her screen name was serial swooper, which linked back to her blog Confessions of a Serial Swooper. So of course I checked out swooper's blog and loved it - her writing style had me laughing out loud, I just loved the way she could retell a good mommy story with so much sharp wit and humor. So as I began to read swooper's whole blog from start to finish (7 months worth at that time), I realized that she too was in coastal New England ... what a coincidence. Then a few entries later, I realized, wait a minute, she's near Boston?! And then ... wait for it ... the light bulb moment ... swooper is ... in my same small town?!?!? What the???

So what am I supposed to do with this info? I wanted to comment, but I could see that swooper has a strong local following, people I actually know ... and even if I were to comment without linking back to my blog, the name Sloan isn't exactly anonymous (damn, why did I use my real name?!)! Either way, commenting would instantly broadcast me to swooper and her readers alike - a total exposure of my covert operations as a mommy blogger! So what did I do? I did what any deer caught in the headlights would do - I froze. I thought, maybe if I freeze she won't see me standing here, right? Wrong.

Swooper found me a couple of weeks ago, via crossover readers, just as I had found her 2 months earlier. Given the personality that shines through in her writing, it's no surprise that she was just as warm and funny as she could be when she had the same light bulb moment as she discovered we're both right here ... I laughed out loud when I saw those first comments and knew the jig was up - I'd finally been outed. I reached out to swooper via private email and we hit it off in a flurry of emails back and forth, so much to say to one another that I could barely type fast enough.

Today we met face to face at a local coffee joint and let me tell you guys ... this girl is the real deal. She is not at all a part of that small town drivel that scratches at the inside of my head like nails on a chalkboard ... she is real and funny and layered and an all-around gem of a gal. Here we are together:

Ok, no, just kidding ... it was really more like this:

So that's how small the world is, folks ... within a few months of entering the 'anonymous' world wide web of blogging, my great escape from small town nonsense, I discovered a neighbor right in my own backyard. An amazing neighbor ... someone I can now call my friend. Isn't that a small world?!