Thank you, whoever you are...

Well, this was a bit of a surprise...

I was nominated for Best Cyber-Buddy Blogger! I did know that my cyber-friend, Dawn at Olive Plants, nominated me, but you have to be nominated three times to make the final list, and I didn't think that was likely to happen. But apparently at least three people were willing to say this about me:

A blogger you haven't met, but you think you would enjoy meeting and hanging out with. She is a person that you would love to co-op with or just live next door to. Who knows, maybe one day we will get together somewhere at a blog conference?

So, Dawn, thank you! You know, there just happens to be a house for sale down the street. I promise, the winters don't get that bad here. And the others who nominated me, whoever you are, thank you! How very exciting! And if you're just visiting, welcome!

Since learning about this nomination, I've had a few moments to ponder about the whole internet/friendship thing. Last night I drove across town to a dear friend's house. She and I actually met through the internet. She's a fellow Christian autism mom, and although I was not yet a homeschooler when we "met" we now have that in common as well. We didn't know a whole lot about each other at first, so it took several emails back and forth to really size each other up.

Blogging, however, has a way of making the whole sizing-up process a little easier. For instance, when I first discovered Dawn's blog through last year's blog awards, all I had to do was look at her sidebar and instantly I knew we had a lot in common. One of the first blogs I ever read regularly, Equip Academy, I found through a homeschool email group. Sharon, a mom whose posts I always found insightful, mentioned she had a blog, so I emailed her, asking if she would share her blog address with me. I love that about blogging! It's so much easier on the internet than in real life to find people that share similar values, interests and circumstances.

It can still be intimidating to leave that first comment on someone's blog. I always imagine the blogger having a puzzled expression as she looks at her comments. Who on earth is this person, and why is she talking to me? But then I think about how excited I get when someone new comments on my blog. Well, I wasn't so excited last week when "Anonymous" left a couple of comments on an old post with some icky-looking links, but that's another story.

So here I am, about 18 months into this blogging adventure, and I'm finding myself more and more often telling my husband, "My blog-friend said this," or "My blog friend did that." And he doesn't look at me anymore like I've lost my marbles when I talk about my blog buddies.

Now it's your turn. I'm curious.

Have you ever met any of your internet/blog friends in real life?

Do you talk about your blog buddies with real life people?

P.S. Voting for the Homeschool Blog Awards runs through midnight November 21, but I promise I will still be your friend even if you don't vote for me -- there are 29 other nominations in the Cyber-Buddy category!

P.P.S. If you need some help with the Best Encourager, Best Crafts, Plans & Projects, or Best Super-Homeschooler categories, I highly recommend Olive Plants.

P.P.P.S. Also, if you feel so inclined, I really think the Homeschool Blog Awards needs a separate category for bloggers who have special needs kids. I emailed them the suggestion last year, but maybe if several of us asked this year, we could have another avenue to make connections among the special needs homeschooling community.

Really, this is the end of the post now!