Intentional Interaction

Meeting She Thinks Liberty

Sometimes I just start writing and see what happens. What will I tell you about today? Will there be more backspacing than actual words seen? Backspacing comes after a stimulating controversial fire has been lit inside me and I feel filter-less. Then, I read what I wrote and whoops! Backspace HO!

I will begin with a little thing that happened before we left Sarasota, for our trip to The Deep South this last fortnight. (For all you Non-British, a fortnight is a fancy way of saying “2 weeks”) After virtually interacting with many readers in the comment section of my favorite Substack Icon, Jeff Childers of Coffee & Covid fame, there was one particular gal, and well, I liked her. She is extremely smart. She is so smart, that I just backspaced and replaced the words super-duper smart with extremely smart. There is no duper-di-doo when it comes to her. I subscribed to her blog and she subscribed to mine, where there was more “organic” interaction. We got to know a little bit about each other in the comment sections of our own blogs and those to which we both subscribed.

I knew she lived somewhere in the panhandle of Florida and we were going to be headed in that direction on our way to/from Louisiana. I reached out to her by e-mail the first part of January. I asked her if maybe she and her SO would like to meet for a quick cup of coffee on our way across Florida from Louisiana? In a public place, of course. I didn’t want her to think I was some creepy creeper.

She got my snide remarks when a lot of people had NO clue. I liked that. If she got those zingers, that went over many people’s heads, then maybe I could hang out with her. And, I had a tangible awareness that this encounter would make better. Better how? Hmmm. Can spending time with someone who has such a wide knowledge base make me smarter? Can it boost my own IQ? Will actually having a conversation with such a warrior rub off and make me even more ready to rumble than I was before? Too be totally honest and forthright, she scared me a little. I am not gonna lie. She had the life experience and resume to back up her fierce independent views complete with publick shunning in communities of her peers and professional connections. She was in Massachusetts, in the thick of the first battles for liberty in 2020. I was snug in a log house on the Idaho range, able to be comfortable with the isolation from human connection that lifestyle brings with it. I have a definite inferiority complex. But, even worlds apart in geography and just about everything else, we were the same.

I knew I would want this lady on my side in ANY fight. I asked Hubs if he would be willing to meet new friends? Hubs replied “Absolutely!” This was as close to internet dating as I have ever been.

How can you make a decision about someone based upon an unseen connection in a cloud of internet? Floating, tethered, in the virtual universe with Substack as the Mothership? Well, I headed out into the real world to make an actual face to face connection with the writer of a superb blog, who, until now, had only existed on a screen.

It was a drizzly Florida morning when we met at a Waffle House off I-10. We were headed east, to St. Augustine. They were kind enough to drive 30 minutes from their home to meet total strangers, with whom a connection had been made through Substack and Jeff Childers. More to come!