This is what the internet has done.
We are GLOBAL!
And if I stop to think about it ----what this internet thing has done ---- I am SO amazed, and SO grateful!
It blew my world wide open in ways that I would never have been able to dream, and I’m sure it’s the same for you if you are thinking about it.
I mean, really. For one thing --- here you are, wherever you are reading this --- from the comfort of your home, your office, your phone ---HOPEFULLY not while you are driving!
I remember when we first got the internet that I wasn’t even REMOTELY interested. DH had signed up on Compuserve or something when we lived in Payette, Idaho and he was a student at Boise State. He was enthralled – I was not.
A few years later when we had moved to Burley, Idaho –I was visiting him at his office and he said, “You know, we really should get the internet at home.” And I could not understand why…WHY!??
He said “There is quilting stuff on there --- look!” And he pulled up a search engine and started pointing things out to me, and that was that. Within a week we were hooked up to a local server and I had joined my first quilter’s email list. And there were people on there from Germany, France, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, and all over the United States and Canada and everywhere in between.
And I was addicted!! We did things like IRC chat, downloaded pdf patterns for FREE –OhMyGoodness!
And then someone arranged our first get-together ----and my family thought I was nuts running off to California or to Salt Lake to meet up with women that I didn’t know ---except…I *DID* know them. In all the ways that mattered. Because it wasn’t about age or race or economic status. It wasn’t about looks or height or weight. It wasn't about religious background or political standing. When you communicate from the heart with words that others understand, it goes deeper than that.
Occasionally there are times when I see connections like this blossoming with other groups, and I am invited in to join them! Sunday I had such an experience where people I knew, who had come to see me in other countries, all gathered in California to attend the Road to California show – and they were there when I was there and we got together and sewed!
Kim and Julie were there! I’ve emailed back and forth with Kim over the years, she is from my birth-place --- the wilds of Minneapolis! And Julie was there! Julie came all the way from Australia to spend time with her “Dear Jane” friends who were all coming to the quilt show!
Caroline was there! And bless her ((And bless me too!)) she brought me a huge bag of Belgian chocolates…oh my! I’ve emailed with Caroline over the years ---I first met her in person when I went to Paris, and she came again to see me when I was in Germany last year. Friends do that --- travel miles for any chance to be together. And here she was in California, hanging out with the Dear Jane girls, ready to go to the quilt show!
Kay was there! Oh, I love Kay! She is such a kick! She took three of my classes at Road to California last year, and brought them ALL to show me how she finished each one! She turns 90 this year. There is no stopping this dynamo! She has given me the buzz phrase that I use OFTEN --- “This is so fun you could just SEW your BRAINS OUT!” Love you Kay!
Sherry was there! I’d emailed with Sherry before, but she really became an instant friend when she so willingly gave up her time ((And her Jeep!)) to run back to the hotel in between class sessions at the show last year to go get the bags of quilts and get them to the convention center for my lecture. And took me to In n Out Burger not once, but twice! Sherry was also my hostess while staying with the Friendship Square guild this week….She came on our August cruise --- I’m so happy that she has become more than a quilter, but a friend! Love you girl!
Birgitte!! What a fabulous woman she is! I first “met” her through the Dear Jane list – which I joined back around 1997 or so? We emailed back and forth over the years, and she came to take all three classes with me in Stuttgart last year. I have to admire women who are crazy enough to start 3 UFOs over one weekend..LOL. And here she was, so far from home, in Southern California. So fun to see you again! Your smile just warms my heart!
I made some new friends too!
We all spent the day “Sewing Our Brains Out” as Kay says….working on our My Blue Heaven Blocks!
There were a couple people who I missed getting photos of – but they are in the large photo at the top of this post! Special thanks to Florine for pulling this day together, and a hello to Carolyn who joined us from Maine – who also came to see me when I was in Germany. And Deborah who joined us from Illinois and celebrated HER 50th birthday with US! ((I figure if she can make it through that day, so can I!)) Boy, do these girls get around!
Julie, Brigitte and Caroline also got to spend the day in San Francisco with my friend Randy who toured them around for the day before they made their way south toward Orange County. Quilting connections. We just come together! The thread that binds!
And those who were not able to attend were not forgotten – I had the privilege of talking to Valerie in France and saying hello as we passed the phone around the table letting her know she was missed!
Of course I’m stinky-green-jealous because they are all at the SHOW today!
So how do I loop this back to where this post started? Would this have been possible at all --- all these people and places and common threads and interests coming together from different remote places of this globe WITHOUT the internet? I doubt it! And my life is so blessed by it!
Even---if I had to miss the show. :c)
