Awkward

I'm so set in my current friendships that I had almost forgotten how awkward I feel when meeting someone new. Yesterday we met a "bloggy friend" at a local (to Nana's) children's museum, and while it was fabulous to meet her in person and I would do it again in a heartbeat as she was just. so. cool, I spent the afternoon unsure how to act or what to say. Plus, my kids refused to stay put in one place for more than five minutes, so I spent an awful lot of time racing off to the next room while flinging a "be right back" wave behind me. If nothing else she got a pretty good glimpse into a day in the life at Chez J-E. Me chasing two sleep-deprived kids with differing opinions around a public place while trying not to die of embarrassment. Yep, that about sums it up.

When I actually managed to contain both my children in one location long enough to attempt to talk, I kept wanting to bring up topics I had read in her blog, but then thought twice about it as, well, it seemed so PERSONAL to be bringing up such things the first time you meet someone. Even if they have been published on the web for all to read. Which is, I suppose, the irony of an internet friendship. All of you know much more about me than the majority of my "real" friends, but yet you don't actually know me.

Perhaps a more outgoing person would have overcome this obstacle, but I was too self-conscious about saying the wrong thing to move past it. I finally settled on sleep as an innocuous enough conversation topic, as, well, every mommy in the world discusses her children's sleep habits with random strangers. And as I knew we both have poor sleepers thanks to the internet, I also knew the conversation wasn't going to send me into the depths of mommy envy.

But regardless of my own insecurities, I am so happy I got to meet Phantom in person and she is as nice as she seems in her blog. As well as highly understanding about my children's antics. Hopefully she will forgive my awkwardness and believe me when I say I really did want to comment on her very cool shoes but couldn't quite get the words out without a computer to hide behind.

PS. Did I mention that we took no less than four trips to the bathroom in the space of an hour and a half? A pee trip, an aborted poop trip, a diaper change and then yet another trip to deal with the consequences of the infamous arrival of the poop in the pants. It was a grand day in the potty department.