My friend Lisa wrote a blog last week that put into words so many of the things I felt on the road. She was reflecting on having attended several weddings over the summer and wrote the following:
Don’t wanna take my word for it? Make Lavar Burton proud and click here.
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Michele ended up being another friend I ditched for Bono, so we only had about 20 minutes together early on Monday morning, July 18th, while she packed to leave town for work. This picture was taken with her boyfriend Aaron in front of the house they just bought. The 20 minutes did include enough time for a grand tour.
More with Michele, click here.
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After lunch with Jon, I went to visit with Matt (aka Shaggy/Shag) and Jen and their son Connor on Sunday, July 17th…..and then I ditched them for Bono. So I returned to have dinner with them on Monday July 18th.
Click here to read more about our visit.
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I’m so excited to be hitting the road again to connect in person with my online friends. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity finish what I started and continue to explore how social media affects the way we connect and build community. It has been fascinating and life-changing to sit down with people I haven’t seen in years, but who I’m connected to online. I will continue sharing my reflections with you all through this blog, and eventually I hope to combine anecdotes from the road with some social research and write a book.
To accomplish all this, I need your help. So many of you were essential to the completion of Phase 1. To those I visited: Thanks for the sacrifice of time out of your busy lives to visit with me, for the conversations, for treating me to meals and fun activities, for putting me up in your guest rooms and on your couches. Also, thanks to the people who called and texted and made the miles go more quickly. If you are reading this, thanks to YOU.
And now, as I enter Phase 2, I have given up my job, am moving out of my apartment (I have the bruises to prove it!), and have thrown everything into pursuing this dream. Here’s the reality: In Phase 1, I covered 12.204 miles in 27 states over 8 weeks. I visited a total of 112 out of a possible 176 friends. To do this cost about $4500, most of which came from my own savings. During Phase 2, I hope to visit far more friends–up to 285.
So I’m asking for your help now more than ever. I need additional finances to complete Phase 2…..about $2500.
Here are some incentives!
If you are interested in participating in this way, simply click on the “Donate” button on the left sidebar, and you will be directed to PayPal to complete your transaction. Feel free to pass this onto others you think might be interested in this adventure.
As I’ve been packing to move out, I’ve come across some old notes I wrote to my Grandma. Whenever my brother and I would write thank you notes to her, we would end them by saying, “I don’t have anything else to say, so I will say Love, Ann.” Really and truly, I don’t have anything else to say. What I have experienced on this journey has left me speechless, and what I’m left with is a whole lot of love.
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I’m hitting the road again! I have been back in Los Angeles for nearly 2 months, making some money, visiting my local friends, and finagling my housing situation. But come the first week of October, I’m coming to see the rest of you fine people, and some of you who I missed in the first go-round. Check out the cities on the route here.
More details to come! Stay tuned!
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I met up with college friend Jon for lunch at McAlister’s Deli on Sunday, July 17th. It’s a place I’d never been before, which is a rarity when I’m visiting my own hometown. Jon is a bit of an anomaly among my St. Louis friends, in that he didn’t grow up there (google map Pickford, Michigan to see where he did grow up). I kept thinking he knew the other people I was visiting in town–friends from high school and elementary school, but Jon moved to St. Louis 8 years ago after graduating from the University of Michigan to work at Boeing. Remember playing flight simulator video games as a kid? Or is that a special kind of fun reserved for children of aeronautical engineers? Jon works on the F-15 flight simulator which trains fighter pilots to operate the jets in the field. Along with many of my other UofM friends, a degree in engineering is a key to playing around on cool and expensive projects.
To say that Jon is a fan of Michigan football would be a gross understatement. His email address contains “goblue.” As you can see in the picture below, when we met, Jon was wearing a Michigan hat and a yellow and blue shirt. He actually has a set of season tickets to the games in Ann Arbor and will be flying from St. Louis to Ann Arbor to the games he can attend when he isn’t coaching high school football himself. When I heard this, I was more than a little bit jealous. But I let the jealousy subside so we could continue having lunch.
Click here to read about the unexpected end to my time with Jon.
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I left breakfast with Cathleen and family to meet my dad and his fiance, Ilene, for lunch. Obviously, I saw my dad in the days I was at home, but this was a more visit-y time together.
More thoughts on Dad, click here.
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After resting at home in St. Louis for a few days, I emerged from the cocoon to begin visiting my hometown friends. First on the list was long-time friend Cathleen, along with husband Jason and adorable son Benjamin, who invited me over for breakfast on Saturday, July 16th. As Cathleen and I thought about it, we realized we’ve known each other almost all our lives. We grew up going to the same church, which we both attended in infancy, so we’ve probably been playing together since before we could walk. And what’s interesting about my friendship with Cathleen is that I’ve known her in several different contexts.
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After realizing my utter exhaustion with Julia, I decided to go home to St. Louis, Missouri on July 13th and be invisible for a couple of days. This coincided with several other circumstances the next day, namely a phone interview and what would have been my mom’s 66th birthday.
I have neglected to mention much about my mom on this blog because it seems like such an inadequate way to communicate such significant information to some people for the first time, but I decided that when I blogged about July 14th, I’d blog about mom.
My mom on a cruise in May of 2007.
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From Des Moines, I headed toward Kansas City. Unfortunately, my friend Michelle was in San Francisco working for the summer, but she offered for me to stay with her family, who generously opened their home to me for the night. I had met Michelle’s parents, Kathi and Anthony, at Michelle’s going away party when she moved from Los Angeles back to Kansas City, where she grew up. It was a pleasure to get to know each of them better and enjoy their warm hospitality while visiting my Kansas City friends. Thanks guys! I did get to see Michelle once I was back in Los Angeles, and today is her birthday! Happy Birthday, Michelle!
Kansas City visits with Lindsay and Adrian…Click here.
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Connecting Cross Country 