Mockingbird Hill Cottage

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Serendipitous

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Do you love a good story?

I have one for you.

A month or so ago, I was at our local grocery store, or rather, in the parking lot walking toward the store. A woman called out to me and asked me if she could share something with me. I said sure. Turns out I remind her of her mother; we both have longish graying hair, we look somewhat alike and we drive the exact same model and year of car (and my car, you remember, is 11 years old.) She had often seen me driving around town and would be certain she was seeing her mother but would then realize that, no, it was that other woman. This had happened many times. So she was glad to finally meet the other woman and introduce herself. We had a lovely conversation in the parking lot and I met her son, who was with her.

I like meeting people and I loved that story. I came home and shared it with Don.

Like many of you, I often start reading a blog which leads me to another blog which leads me to another blog and that’s the way I often find a lovely, new blog that I bookmark. I’ve found several lately. Yesterday, my friend Heidi left me a note on my personal facebook page with a link to a blog she thought I would like. I recognized the name of the blog because it was one of those recently bookmarked blogs. So I wrote Heidi back and told her I knew of the blog. She said the author was local. Really? I said. For some reason I thought the author was from someplace else, probably because she talked about visiting the Luckett’s store in Virginia. It turns out that Heidi meant local as in someone who lives in our very small town.

Well, I thought, how interesting! I will trot right on over to that blog and leave a comment introducing myself. Hi, I said, Heidi told me you’re a local blogger. So am I. It’s nice to meet you. And I left a link to my blog.

I almost immediately got a return comment. It said (I’m paraphrasing)...Um, Claudia? I’ve just gone over to your blog and seen your picture….do you remember a strange woman who approached you in the parking lot and told you how much you resemble her mother? That was me. It is a very small world. And I recognize your house. I could throw a rock and hit it, we live so close. We are neighbors!

I admit to a gasp or two. I looked at her photo which shows a short hair cut. When I met her, it was longer. It may still be. But yes, I could see that it was my friend from the parking lot.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Then I got obsessed with figuring out where she lived. If she lived that close to me, where exactly was it? She has a photo of her barn on a recent post. I studied it.

Bingo. I suddenly had an idea where she lived, which, if I was right, was around the corner from me. You understand I’m not talking about a suburban street here, but down the road and around the corner. When I told Don about it, his response was ‘Let’s hop in the car and look!’ So I looked at the barn photo once more, memorized it, and we drove off in the dusk of the evening.

I was right.

Her land backs up to our property. She lives in one of my favorite houses around here, one I’ve always admired.

She’s been blogging for six months and writes about home, garden, vintage – the sort of things I write about.

She has great style. The name of her blog is Breida with a B. Stop by and visit. She wrote about this same thing today.

It’s funny how you can meet someone, have a conversation, but have absolutely no idea that person is a blogger. Like you.

I’ve met bloggers who live far away from me. But to find one that lives around the corner from me? In my little town? What are the odds?

Serendipity.

————————————————

By the way, for those of you who want to see a photo of me with my new haircut, just look at my photo on the sidebar. That’s what it looks like. My hair grows very quickly and I had let it go throughout the time I was nursing Riley. I had 4 inches taken off and it now looks normal again.

On another note, I’ve been dragged kicking and screaming to the point where I finally established a Facebook Page for Mockingbird Hill Cottage. I have stayed away from this in the past because I felt I had enough to handle already and that adding yet another something I had to keep up-to-date was simply too much for this particular blogger. But I’m trying to grow my blog and some of you, along with many of those in the know, have suggested this. So, I did it. I don’t have a widget yet, but you can get there by clicking on the f under Contact on my sidebar. Or click here.

Would you do me a favor and click Like? The more of you who ‘like’ my page, the better!

Oh, I’ve been busy. Crocheting, sleuthing, meeting, creating, gasping.

Happy Thursday.

Comments

  1. Wow, Claudia, that story is amazing! Well, I went to your facebook page and clicked “Like” although I have no idea what the result of that will be! I have a page set up by my son quite a long time ago, but I don’t ever go there. Hmm, I always promised myself that I would keep up with worldly developments, so maybe it is time to learn Facebook. I was perusing your post from yesterday. I did not realize how important it is to click through to a site, although I usually do anyway because to me, reading a blog requires seeing the format, background, fonts and other gadgets and photos that are actually added to the page. That is the only way to get the total experience. I hope you enjoy your “new” neighbor!

    • Me, too, Linda. I’m a visual person and I want to see the whole blog -the graphics, the design, everything. Reading a post in the reader usually doesn’t do it for me. xo

  2. I love this story-it is a small world. How funny that she lives so close. I’m on my way to check out her blog. Have a wonderful day.

  4. That IS a good story!

    Let me ask you about your FB page. Did you set it up as a business? I set up a page for my business a long time ago and it ended up being a personal page which I had to delete. I later tried setting up a FB for Business page for the blog and it greets me by my first name “An” as in An Urban Cottage. I have to admit, I just don’t understand FB. Twitter is a breeze but I feel like FB is a foreign language and no entiendo!

    • Steve, I hear you. I found it so confusing. I kept trying different set ups – I ended up with something, I think it was the person, celebrity, thing and went with that. Then when I had it all set up, it had me labeled as ‘Community’ . I edited something that led me to website/blog and I gave a huge sigh of relief. I checked that and now everything is fine. But it is SO CONFUSING.

  5. What a fantastic story!!! I love stories like this-and she lives sooo close to you! I hope you enjoy many years of friendship with your new blogging friend :)

  6. I think I Iiked the facebook page. lol I have a facebook account I set up years ago, using an alias, so I could spy on my kid. But I have no idea how to use anything on there. I also don’t know what a “reader” is. I have a list of blogs on my bookmarks and every day I click on each one to see if there is a new post.

    • I use the reader occasionally but mostly, I go to my favorite bookmarked sites as well as read blogs from my blogroll. xo

  7. Good morning Claudia and what a great morning! Your story gave me joy ….that is a good way to start my day. Thank you and I will see you on FB, Ciao Rita

  10. Claudia dear,

    I LOVE this story. I mean, I have had some small world stories, but this beats them ALL. Amazing. And now you also have a new friend. This made me laugh.

    Good hair!

    Cheers to you,
    S

  14. A blogger, a neighbor AND a chance meeting because you look like her mother. Sounds like the plot for a book!
    I ran right over and LIKED you on FB (: and hope to join Favorite Things later this evening.

  15. Oh my, now THAT is something…. wonderful how the world works sometimes, isn’t it? I too have made some great friends over the internet – none have turned out to live so close but I sure keep them close to my heart. Thanks for the great Thursday story! :)

  16. That is a great story, Claudia. I am glad you shared, and I will go visit the blog of your new friend. I am sure meeting you was a bright spot in her day.

    You sound just like me about Facebook. I finally set up a page for my blog for the same reasons, but I didn’t find it an easy task. I “liked” Mockingbird Hill Cottage.♥

  17. Claudia you hair looks very nice.. I’ll bet it feels better too. I know I always feel like a new person with a new haircut..
    Your story is very interesting. It’s scarey, sometimes, when we realize what a small world we live in..
    Enjoy a lovely Fall day.
    Charlotte in Va.
    PS I don’t live too far from Lucketts. I’ve been there for craft shows. It’s one of those towns that if you blink you miss it.. It’s quaint though.

  18. that is a great story. I love ones that turn out like that. The amazing part is that you look like her mother and she had been seeing you for some time. I am sure you will become great friends…
    I am glad that you said to come back to your blog and leave comments. I was leaving them on the email.

    • Debby, by the way, I do make those scarves in a lovely cotton yarn. I’m not sure what colors I have on hand, but I’ll be making some soon! xo

  20. What a lovely story, Claudia. I hope you get to spend time with one another now that you know you live so close by. I love the photo on your blog today. So pretty! Take good care.

  22. Hi Claudia-
    I met Lezlee at “Priorlives” …sort of like that.
    She posted pictures of the school where she works and then she posted a black panther (statue) in her garden…and I put it together.
    We finally met for lunch one day. Unless we see each other around town (like Lowe’s) or something…we hardly ever get together. I’d love to get together with her more. She is so down to earth and we have so much in common. But…we’re just busy!

    loved this story. Pat

  27. Hi Claudia,

    Your story is truly out of this (small) world!! As I was reading it, I could see it all happening, as you described it so perfectly. My gosh! The fact that her lot backs on to yours and all the rest….serendipitous, indeed! You must be psyched! Thanks for making my coffee time cozy with this fantastic story.

    Poppy

  30. Thanks, everyone. Somehow a story like this one gives me a sense of the greater universe, if you know what I mean. And thanks so much for all the ‘likes.’
    xo

    • Hi Claudia! Just wanted to make sure you knew that I’m not on facebook so I can’t do that for you. But I *DO* like you!!!!!!!!! xx

  31. Ciao Claudia , I love your story , it is sweet, it is weird and makes me believe even more in serendipity.
    My life has always been full of lovely coincidences , sometimes they look like pure luck or mere chance but I cannot help think that there is a scheme behind all them.
    I am glad that you found a new possible friend and living so close it will be easy to understand. Her blog looks so nice and I am sure you have lots in common.
    Thank you for sharing your tale, Rosanna
    PS I liked you on FB although I am not very active on it

  35. What a great small world it is!! And such a lovely story! In other news, I have been away from blogging for a while-reading, writing, commenting. I was so sorry to hear about Riley. Our pets are like our babies. I lost my Micro almost four years ago at age 18 and will still burst into tears at odd moments. Our Sky dog is 13 now and not doing well. My heart breaks for you and I hope you know you are in my thoughts!

    • Jenny, it’s so great to hear from you again! I’ve missed you. Thank you for your kind thoughts on Riley’s passing. Still miss him every day. Scout is 13 now, too, and even though she is a Border Collie, I really see her slowing down now and it makes me sad.

  36. Good morning Claudia
    I’ve been thinking … You are writing that you like to to find new blogs. Me too, and I know there are so many great people out there but the blog list is getting longer and longer and longer, keeping contact more and more time consuming. How do you manage? Do you say Adieu to certain people after a while? And I don’t talk about the ones you visit once or twice (these are not on my blog-list).

    For me it’s like in real life, I don’t like to say good bye for “no” reason. And I don’t want to judge, like you are worth keeping and you are not. Do I have to be glad if someone decides to stop blogging because it makes my list shorter and gives my time I now have for the rest of blogging friends?

    I feel like a few of the writers of my favourite blogs are friends. But maybe I haven’t even met the “best” friend yet? Wouldn’t it be a shame not to find her/him? (I would never search for new blogs and their writers/owners …)

    • Ah, Regula, this is something I battle all the time. It is impossible to keep up with every blog I am interested in. I try, but I fail. Sometimes I realize that I’ve not visited a favorite blog in ages and I feel terrible about it. Or, conversely, I realize that a blogger that used to visit me all the time hasn’t come by in a while. And that makes me sad.
      How to keep up with everyone? I think we all struggle with that.

      And yet, I do want to discover new blogs – I usually try to do this at least one morning a week. But my bookmarked sites are now long and out of control!

      I don’t know the answer. It’s something I struggle with all the time.
      xo

  37. This is the absolute neatest story, Claudia! I love it. And I want to go over and introduce myself to your neighbor.

    Your hair looks great. I love the cut.

    XO,

    Sheila

  41. I just came across your blog by way of Sunny Simple Life. Now that is a story for sure. Amazing coincidence and a fun one at that! :)

  43. By the way when I was exploring your blog the other day I made a mental note to come back and get the link to visit Breida’s blog. I did that on my lunch at work today and reading HER story ….her view of it…made the entire thing seem even more stupendous. What a fun story!

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