Becky and the Gift of Authenticity

 

**photo by Linda Gardner, October 2011

I would call my relationship with Becky serendipitous if I didn't know it to be a God thing. I didn't follow her blog when--in mid-June 2011--I learned she was moving within thirty minutes of me. Crazy as it sounds, I happened to click a link to a post in which she talked about moving to Virginia. A pretty big state, but my heart told me she was moving to me.

To confirm, I read through her posts labeled "Virginia." Then (afraid of sounding far-fetched and stalkerish) I sent her an e-mail. After she'd moved and gotten settled, we met for lunch, and we've been getting together here and there ever since.

I've written about Becky several times (This post makes me cry, looking back.), but I've hardly mentioned her name. Something just didn't feel right about it. I didn't feel like I had a solid understanding of blogger etiquette. Maybe I had lingering concerns about seeming stalkerish. 

Above all, I wanted Becky to know I was for real: that I didn't have any hidden agenda in reaching out to her, that I didn't need our friendship to be blogged. 

Because Becky is so real. I've known her in real life almost as long as I've known her through blogging, and what you read is what you get. I love that about her. And we're so different, but we've got the Jesus thing and a strong, maternal heritage of faith in common. Too, Becky's as wild about her family as I am about mine.

And this relationship has been good for me because I wonder, sometimes, if I'm spending too much time interacting online as opposed to face-to-face. Am I engaging in authentic relationships, or am I fooling myself, even cheating myself? 

Becky helps me believe that, sometimes, the people who know us very best are those who take the time to read our words. It is real. Or, at least, it can be. Sometimes, what you read is what you get. Becky helps me believe that bloggers are real people: broken people, lonely people, beautiful people. People who--like me, and for whatever reason--just need to write it out.

 

**Jim took the above photo; Becky edited it. Read her post about Baby Chip here.

**Blessed to attend (and photograph - squee!) Becky's daughters' baptisms on February 24th. She didn't ask me to take photos (although she gave permission, of course), and I told her as I left that I'd taken a bunch of terrible ones. But I guess I was just seeing through tears? It also seems possible that the Holy Spirit took over, because I have next to no idea what I'm doing with my new camera. Becky's post about her girls' baptisms is beautiful; you can read it here.