Keep on Trucking

 How do you meet people?

Years (many) ago i had a blog on yahoo ...and i don't know how but a bunch of "us" starting following each other from all over the country.  We'd read each others blogs and comment with support and/or humor, suggest books, recipes, counseling....we were all different and yet so alike.

One friend was called Dub.  He lived in Oklahoma.  His business was fixing motorcycles and he did it on his property.  His commute was short.  He had a HUGE garden and he would post daily about what he was cooking that day.  He had a live in girlfriend, Judy.  He would talk about his garden, his clients, his girl, and the band he played in.  I loved following him and having him follow me.  His comments were hysterical and most of the time, spot on.

I remember him telling me to "run" from the boyfriend, "before you kill each other".  

Well that blog spot closed down and we all moved over to another and then i think that one closed down too.  We all eventually landed on facebook.

When I say I met a lot of people i wouldn't normally have met through those blogs.......i mean a LOT.

Back to Dub.  He had a following.  He sent me a t-shirt from his business that i still have, and he wouldn't let me pay for it.  I never met him in person.

He got the flu one year and he never recovered.  Judy wanted him to get checked, all his followers begged him to get checked and like a cranky old biker, he listened to no-one.  Finally it got so bad that Judy brought him to the hospital via ambulance, and he passed.

Again.  We never met in person.

I remember reading he had passed and I was shocked.  I felt it so deep.  This man i only knew through the internet, but for years, through lots of ups and downs........I shared in the grief that was expressed on his page and still is.  He is remembered by his friends in person and via the internet alike on the anniversary of friendships, when someones garden starts to pop and they have a question he is missed, and when he pops up in memories.  "whats for dinner"..........He was the only man that could say that without my backside tightening up.  

It's not the same anymore.  I still "meet" people via the internet but people have caught on that they don't have to be genuine, or real......they can be whoever they want to be even if it's a lie.  Back in the beginning, because yes, i was there for the beginning......people were still pretty real.

I have met an interesting person in a group i'm in who is a cross country trucker.  He posts a lot about the meals he makes in his truck, and the places he goes.  He seems very well liked by the women especially but also the men which i think is a good sign. We've been chatting on the side and we seem to think alike about a lot so far.  He picks up in Connecticut sometimes and wants to meet.

I mentioned this to friends at a gathering over the weekend and the jokes began.......I was gonna get kidnapped, he's a serial killer, etc........

All pretty valid jokes.  I mean, i watch a lot of true crime.

However, if i met a guy out one night with my friends.......couldn't the same be said?

Or grocery shopping.

Or in a book club

or even if i friend introduced me to a casual aquaintance?  

Anyone can be dangerous if you aren't paying attention.

So far just a texting thing.  Next will be phone if he sees it through and then we will see.  I won't be meeting him any time soon.  But, who knows.  

I think about Dub, and some of the other people i've actually met and still remain friends with (not all definetly not all)  and how lucky i am to have them in my life.  I ended up being roommates with my friend for a year during Covid and guess where i met her?  

So........we meet people everywhere.  On purpose, by chance, by setup.  I roll with it.  I always think there's a reason or a lesson.  Most times, it's been a lesson BUT the few times it hasn't.....i've made lifelong friends.

Stay tuned.