Summoning of the Snark: Wisconsin Edition

My snark of blogfriends went to Boston without me... but at least I got a T-shirt! Dear Mama Mara, who came over for coffee and brought me kringle and played with Joy the other day, also brought a surprise: a Look Me In The Eye T-shirt from the bloggy gathering with John Elder Robison in Boston last month. Woof!

Mama Mara wrote in her trip report after arriving home from Boston:

Sadly, I didn't get near enough time with [Rhemashope] of Autism in a Word, so I am going to have to insist that she come to my neck of the woods soon and visit with me and my (there-with-the-snark-in-spirit) neighbor, JoyMama.

I agree.

In fact, Mama Mara & I agree so much that:

We hereby summon the snark to Wisconsin this fall. Sometime October-ish.

Blogfriends, this is your chance for a midwestern meet-up! We'll schedule in the fall because it's usually quite pleasant and colorful-foliage-y around here at that time of year, and it doesn't conflict with the Southern California playdate that's already on the books for June.

If you would like to be in the loop for more information and date-decision-making, say so in the comments or drop an e-mail. This is an invite-yourself affair, m'dears. You don't have to be affiliated with the Boston or the So.Cal. gathering to do the Wisconsin one!

There'll be cowpies...!

It's a small, small world.

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears,
It's a world of hopes and a world of fears,
There's so much that we share, and it's time we're aware,
It's a small, small world.

So two mamas, both with kids on the autism spectrum, start blogs in the summer of 2008. Both are feeling the need to reach out in some way to others out there who might be able to relate.

Both mention that they're from the same state. They find one another's blogs and start commenting back and forth.

Eventually one e-mails the other and says, hey, where exactly are you?

"Exactly" in this case is: within walking distance.

The amazing Mama Mara's son Taz went to the same school as JoyMama's daughter Rose last year.


Anybody want to calculate odds?

Mama Mara came over for coffee this morning, met Joy, we chattered a mile a minute and kept finding more weird and awesome things in common. (Key phrase of the day: "Oh, shut UP!" as in "you cannot be serious!")

I am so psyched to have my awesome local community grow in this awesome way. Did I say yet that this is totally awesome?

There's so much that we share, and it's time we're aware, it's a small, SMALL world!

P.S., added a few minutes later: Oh, shut UP! Now you've got to go over to see what Mama Mara wrote about this encounter. I promise, we did not coordinate our stories on this!!! (Otherwise I'd have been as good a comedic writer as her. A girl can dream, right?)