Authenticity

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of hosting Spunky of Spunky Homeschool and three lovely young ladies (two of whom were her daughters) on a "drive by" tour of D.C. They were wrapping up their weekend here, which you can read about at her blog.

I've been following Spunky Homeschool for about two or three years, give or take. I'm not one to be a "fan" of people, really. They're all sinners, and some of them happen to come in more or less attractive packages, have been photoshopped better than others, or have managed to construct a more deceptive facade for themselves. However, it is refreshing when someone you've come to know from a distance actually is the person that they portray themselves to be. On the surface, my meeting Spunky (whose given name is Karen) seemed kind of odd...I emailed her and said, "Hey, if you're in the city, maybe we could meet..." I seriously doubted that she'd have time or desire to uproot her plans or time with her friends and family to meet a weird blog-follower, but something said, "do it anyway." Come to think of it, I would NEVER encourage my kids to just up and meet someone they meet on the internet! How crazy is that!!? But to my surprise she determined that I wasn't a psycho stalker, announced that she was free all afternoon, and so we met and ran around the city together and even got some dinner.

The pleasant reality is that after two years of reading her blog and feeling like I know who she is on some level, meeting this sister was every bit as satisfying as I could have hoped. She has no facade, she is who she is without apology, and she absolutely is as "spunky" as her name implies--there was never a dull moment. I just want to note--we did not plan the outfits.

The quintessential "Spunky quote" came when my son was fishing for coins in the fountain outside the Ronald Reagan building, since he didn't have any of his own to throw in. Dad mildly corrected him for doing it to which Spunky chimed in, "Oh, we're in Washington! It's okay to take other people's money!"

The long and short of it is this--in the search for friends in this world, you are blessed when you find the ones who really are who they say they are. Now, granted, one visit with a person doesn't give the whole picture, but first impressions are usually accurate.

Thanks Spunky for a fun day! We'll look forward to the next time!