Today, after nearly a year of emailing and chatting online, I met up with Jennifer from The Lactivist in person.
Jen was in Boston doing some of her "day job" work running a training on search engine marketing, and we had lunch downtown with her son Emmitt and friend Rachel. I live in Western Massachusetts, and drove in so we could finally meet.
Without a doubt, the biggest and best surprise about running this blog has been the relationships I've formed with other bloggers and readers. When this blog first began I felt a little isolated, and also maybe just a teensy bit threatened by the other breastfeeding blogs, like Jen's, Angela's, Andi's, and Sinead's. They're really good. But once we started talking with each other and organizing monthly carnivals it became very clear that we have a lot to gain by becoming 'colleagues.' I've consulted with Jen about breastmilk banking, Andi about her book, Angela about blogging, and Sinead about real estate and movies, among other topics. These women have become friends, and in truth I'm in better contact with them than friends I've known (and actually seen) for years.
Jen and I have traded a lot of information and support back and forth - typically lactation stuff from me and web-related stuff from her, but sometimes it's politics or kids or another topic. She has a 'your success is my success' attitude, which is so refreshing. And in spite of our political differences, we really see eye-to-eye on breastfeeding issues.
So, it was very fun to meet up today. I'm hoping to that this is the beginning of a trend...
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