You realize how odd it is, for you, that you feel like you know someone because you read their blog, and find it hard to remember they don't know you at all!
About a year or so ago, I came across a blog from a woman who lived not far from me, had many children, and homeschooled. I guess you could call it a blogger "crush", because I felt like "Wow, this woman gets what I'm going through and what she writes about is often what I'm trying to find words for in my own heart." It was made even more interesting, to me, that we were both due around the same time.
Fast forward to now and it turns out she attends the co-op my family just started attending last month. She doesn't know me, but I feel like I know her and her family a little. For me, this is awkward, like trying not to gawk at a celebrity awkward, and I keep hoping I don't seem like a stalker. I help in the nursery at co-op and so I tend to her daughter, who I feel a little connection to simply because I remember when her mom wrote about her arrival. Yet, I don't really know this family and they don't know me.
This is one thing that I think is changing in our culture. With all the bloggers out there who share their life's ups and downs with the world, we read and feel engrossed in the well written stories, and yet we don't know them any more than we know King Arthur. Often, this might not impact our "real" lives, but it can. As we move more and more towards a technologically connected society, we find that our concepts of relationships, friendships, etc. is morphing. I see it with my younger sister. You feel connected to people all over the place and yet, you may not actually know them and they may not know you from a hole in the wall.Yet if you ever come across them in person you may find yourself shouting "I read your blog!" when/if you are introduced to them, and having them look at you like "Please don't be a crazy stalker!"
