My friend, Lee Kolbert (@teachakidd) was so inspired by a tweet from Dean Shareski that she wrote a blogpost . Dean wrote:
Lee said...
Keep up the blogging and search to find your voice.
~Lee
As soon as I read this, my mind raced back to the first time I met Lee in person, which I will get to later. I first remember interacting with her on two of my blogposts in the very early days of blogging. The first one was my most popular post for a long time and it was about people describing where they were from and cultural differences. Lee made a very detailed comment about her area. That was June 24, 2008.
A few months later, I was whining on Twitter about the fact no one read my blog(and that is still basically true). I made a Blogpost about blogging and Lee made the very kind comment below:
~Lee
However, the thing that I look at as a watershed moment was meeting Lee in person at the Constructivist Consortium prior to ISTE (then NECC) in Washington, D.C. I am always a bit nervous about meeting people in person whom I have met online. I am afraid perhaps I won't be the person they think I am. I always thought of Lee as a celebrity on Twitter. Everyone knows her and loves her. I was more nervous than usual to meet her. What happened when I met Lee just blew me away. She gave me the warmest smile ever when she realized it was me and she hugged me. Every piece of nervousness I had ever had about meeting people I had 'met' online was gone. I now hug almost everyone I meet (so be forewarned). I am going to say it right now, I feel very lucky to have Lee in my Positive Loving Network.
Diane Cordell @dmcordell & Linda (Bilak) Lattimer @lbilak :
Before I attended ISTE in San Antonio, I was blasting away on Twitter about my time there and how I would be there with FableVision Learning. I received some extremely rude DM's from someone I was following and they were hurtful to me. I made some sort of comment about leaving Twitter (forever) and instantly received DM's and replies from Diane and Linda. They told me how they hated adult bullies and that I should just block the person and move on...that my voice mattered.
First of all, WOW, that was very sweet. Second of all, WOW, they were awesome. My life is definitely richer because of the relationships I continue to make on Twitter. I try to be 'that' person on Twitter too. . . When the resident bully starts bashing people, I try to talk to them and help them see their contribution is important.
I got to meet Diane in San Antonio and again in Philadelphia. I call her "The Great One" on Twitter because she is always there for people.
I followed Angela Maiers @angelamaiers for awhile on Twitter and then had the opportunity to meet her at ITEC two years ago. Her movement of #youmatter is such a wonderful thing and so important. You will see me tweeting that a lot!!
I interacted with Shannon Smith (@brachsmith) on Twitter after I made a very naughty joke. I tweeted "You know what it takes to be a principal? A Masters degree and two losing seasons." Fortunately, she has a very good sense of humor and she enjoyed the humor (maybe because she is married to @principalspage). I had the good fortune to meet her and her lovely mother @nbrach in Washington, D.C. (@principalspage was too scared to meet me-- he made some excuse about being busy).
Shannon Miller (@shannonmmiller) and John Schumacher (@MrSchuReads) are two people I met through Diane Cordell. They are two of the most positive and kind people in the world. These two are extra special to me because they helped International Dot Day participation explode this year!
I know I have connected with many other awesome Tweeters....but these are a few that made a huge mark on me.
Readers: I challenge you to write your own blog post doing the same. Be good to the Blogosphere and be sure to link back here and then challenge others to do the same and link back HERE and to YOUR POST. Leave me a comment letting me know that you've written your own blogpost about this please. Thanks!
In case you missed it above, Lee's original post is http://www.leekolbert.com/2011/12/have-we-met.html
2 comments:
What a beautiful post. When I wrote my post earlier today, it evoked a lot of emotion recalling "the good ol' days." Your post just makes me see how much of an impact we have on people without ever realizing it. Thanks for taking on this challenge, Terry! I'm so glad we've stayed connected through the years.
I love this post and thank you and Lee for reminding me how special these connections have been in our lives. So grateful for the chance to learn from you and honored to call you friend!
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