Beyond The Milky Way

I love those scenes in movies and TV shows that start with a shot in space and then the shot quickly zooms to earth, a hemisphere, a continent, a country, a city, a neighborhood, and then finally some Joe Schmoe, a rather insignificant speck in the universe when put in this perspective. I think Heroes might do this. Anyway, I know I just saw it somewhere recently. Hence its mention here.

Imagine a similar scene, zooming in from space to a quaint country restaurant where seven bloggers are gathering for lunch. I didn't know any of them except Amber, who writes Soggy Cheerios, and is a lovely blogger/old friend of my sister's, that I had the delightful opportunity to meet and spend a few hours with several months ago.

A couple of weeks ago, Amber issued an invitation on her blog for a Girls Night Out, which ended up turning into an afternoon lunch. Because I seem to be genetically hardwired to accept any offer to eat and visit, I left a comment on her blog saying "I'll come!".

The get together was on Saturday and while I was waiting for the other bloggers to arrive, I wondered why I was there. I like Amber and wanted to hang out with her, but only recently declared myself apathetic to meeting anyone else while here. I hadn't read any of the other blogs and felt unprepared for this particular date.

The other bloggers arrived and I knew right away that it was going to be a lively lunch. While I don't necessarily feel like I make a bad first impression, I tend to be more reserved when meeting most people for the first time. I'm friendly...but controlled. I tend to ask a lot of questions. I refrain from making any sudden dance moves...usually...and I rarely try to be funny. I believe someone's humor, like opera, is an acquired taste. My offering was much more akin to Celine Dion.

One thing this particular group of bloggers had going for them were the names of their blogs. I blushed as I had to repeat my own a second or third time (because it always gets a "huh?" after the first) but smiled at the others' catchy names. Thou Shalt Not Whine, Duck Duck Cow, The Quiltermaker's Gift, Tangled Me, and of course one of my favorite blog names ever, Soggy Cheerios. But most of the awe and admiration for coolest title was given to Twas Brillig.

Immediately, several made comments about how perfect and clever her title was, how they wished they'd thought of it first. How people who didn't get it (because it was clearly brilliant) shouldn't be allowed to read her blog anyway.

Uh-oh.

Celine Dion never causes a scene(except for that time she wore a reverse tuxedo), so I kept my ignorance to myself. And...just in case the conversation really got going, and we were suddenly asked to relate how the words "Twas Brillig" first changed our lives...I sat at the opposite end of the table.


The food was good, company entertaining and I left feeling encouraged to check out these new acquaintances' blogs. First and foremost...I needed to find out what the heck "Twas Brillig" meant.

Ah-ha. Twas Brillig is the first line of The Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll. I have heard of The Jabberwocky, but in a very its-a-classic-but-I-have-no-idea-what-it's-about sort of way. If you recall, the only English class I took in college was called Technical Writing and in high school, I had the sort of teachers that just showed us the movie Of Mice and Men, rather than having us actually read it. But I digress.

I read The Jabberwocky and loved it. I read some of Twas Brillig's blog and she is an amazing blogger. Very funny. Very original. I also checked out Tangled Me and Duck Duck Cow and Thou Shalt Not Whine and The Quiltmaker's Gift and after meeting them in real life, and then reading their blogs and seeing their own sidebars - filled with other blogs I've never heard of, my mind did that zoom scene - only this time it went in reverse. From little ol' me to infinity...and beyond. There are so many bloggers out there. I've always known this and it's the main reason I allow myself to continue to put my life on the world wide web. My blog is insignificant. I'm fine with that.

Meeting up with this particular group, however, who are also LDS...who are also moms...who also live in relatively close proximity to me....made me realize how small my own blogging orbit is. Don't get me wrong...I see my own sidebar. It's plenty long for a SAHM who already wastes quite enough time at her computer each day. My point is, there are always more bloggers out there; bloggers you'd love to know and read and make contact with. It's quite mind boggling to think of all these other entire blogging solar systems out there, each with a plethora of bloggers circling about each other.

When I think of bloggers like this, like planets in an infinite universe that keeps expanding, I almost want to go back to thinking the world is flat. Then, there is no reason to leave home, as it is safe and far away from the edge. Or how about the later and more enlightened, but still incorrect belief of Aristotle and Ptolemy that the earth(me, in this particular analogy but feel free to insert your own name here) was the center of the universe and everything else revolved around it? Comforting....and flattering....but wrong. Darn that Copernicus.

In the end, what does it matter? Not much. Whether you prefer a provincial life or fancy yourself an astronaut, our world needs be only as big as we are capable of exploring.

I'm comfortable here in my predictable orbit, but I personally like to know what's out there. The blogging universe is filled with some really cool people. And I had lunch with a few of them.