Another unexpected ode to the internet

A long time ago, I wrote a funny little ode to the internet, because I was feeling so darn grateful for the fact that this blog helped connect me to a super rockin’ lady who I might never otherwise have met.

Today, I feel similarly grateful, for similar reasons.

Perhaps you remember a while ago that a lovely friend of mine (awwww Marisa:) gave me a book of scavenger hunt bike rides in Portland, and I asked for buddies to come on some of the rides with me. One unexpected response was from someone I didn’t know at all — we’ll call her Janna — who’d been reading this blog and was psyched to take a ride.

So, hey! We met up, and we rode, and as is often the case when you’re doing something active (at least for me), had a great conversation that pretty immediately got into some for-realz soul-sharing shit. And since then, we’ve been riding all over the place, and hiking, and generally having all sorts of adventures.

(from a ride on the Banks-Vernonia trail last fall)

Today, a semi-typical sneak-it-in-after-work bike ride turned into a jump-into-the-Willamette-River excursion (it may have been like 85F here, but it was cold in that river!!). But again, in typical fashion, just a few hours of time together smooshed in around normal-life things felt like a grand adventure, and by the time I got home at the end of the day I felt invigorated and full.

(best thing ever!:)

Like many lady friends in my life right now, Janna materialized at just the right time. And I feel so gosh-darn lucky to have such a wonderful, cheerful, understanding, and hilarious presence in my life that when I’m feeling most cranky about the internet and blogs I remember that without this one, I would have a giant Janna-shaped hole in my life.

So a cautious yay for the internet, and yay for the sometimes-possible actual human connections wrought of people using the internet to actually reach out to and talk with one another. Definitely feeling so, so grateful.

(ha! best thing ever at Saddle Mountain:)