THIS ONE'S FOR GABY

{the other day my little brother came home from school with a note for me written by one of his classmates, who reads this blog and had just realized that i was his sister. it was straight up old-school style, on folded up notebook paper. it was the sweetest, loveliest little letter. it about made me cry. so, this post is for gaby.}

four years ago i found this blog. a friend of mine recommended it to me and i was hooked right away. i knew her. i mean, i didn't know her, but i knew her. she was my tribe. you know what i mean?

two years ago i sat on her couch in a dream, and we talked and talked and talked about everything there was to talk about. when i woke up i felt conflicted. on the one hand--creepy!--but on the other hand, it felt significant. it felt like it meant something. 

i am happy to say that over time that blogger became one of my most treasured real-life friends. isn't that a happy ending? and just today i sat on three of her couches. and it was exactly like i thought it would be.

i've met a lot of my favorite bloggers in the past year, and my favorite part is always that first moment where you wonder to yourself, "is this going to be awkward?" and then the second moment right after that where you realize, "not even one bit." 

i ask myself from time to time, what am i doing with this blog anyway? because sometimes it gets awful or irritating or weird and i forget. i'm not doing it for the money (though being able to help pay the rent is a nice bonus) or for the "attention" ("blog fame" is a dumb, dumb thing).  i'm doing it because at the best of it it can mean something. who knows what, but something. to a lot of us.

every time i get an email, or meet a reader, or get a note passed to me from my brother from a high school friend that says, "i feel like i know you," or "i bet we'd be friends in real life," or "i promise i'm not a creepy stalker!"

i always say, 

"i know!"

because, you know what?

i know.

so thank you for the note, gaby. i LOVED it.
i hope to see you around t-town some time, sis

xo

natalie

(go wolves!)