Erica, Phoebe, Adam, and Stuart

There was one summer when we were left to our own devices (vices? what is it?) that we somehow became obsessed with the soap opera, All My Children. When I say we, I mean Mickey, Rick and I, with an occasional comment thrown in by our brother Bryan. I don't know where we picked up this obsession. My mom, as far as I know, was never a soap opera watcher, but the three of us became entrenched in that show like housewives from the 50's. I even had a job one summer where my boss had a TV radio, so we would sit and eat our lunch and listen to the show.

Mickey, Rick and I would talk about these people as if we knew them. We discussed their choices, and predicted their futures. We rooted for some of them like best friends would, and hoped that the bad guys eventually would meet their demise. My mom couldn't care less about this show, so she ignored us when we would talk about it. Yet by ignoring us, she didn't pay attention to the names and would suddenly perk up the next time when we mentioned someone was in danger or on their death bed, or someone suddenly returned from the dead. "Who are you talking about?" she would ask with a worried look on her face. We would start explaining it to her and then she would say, "I can't believe you're talking about these people like you know them. It's a TV show."

Fast forward to recent years, when Mickey and I have become obsessed in the same sort of way with blogs. I think I may be to blame in this situation, when I stumble upon a blog that one of my regular-read blogs refers to, or I find through a google search. I usually tell Mickey about it, and then we start following those blogs regularly. When Mickey and I talk on the phone, inevitably part of our conversation will turn to blogs. "Did you hear that Soule Mama is pregnant? I am so happy for them!" Or, "I love that craft project Shivaya Naturals did with her kids. She's so creative." Or, "Did you see that Pioneer Woman has a contest? Maybe we could win and get to stay in the Lodge."

These people become like celebrities, in that we follow their lives through their blogs and get to know them as we read more about them. One post I did a couple years ago caught the attention of one of the bloggers I follow and she commented on it. I called Mickey immediately. "Heather commented on my blog! She read my blog!" Recently, one of my favorite bloggers, David Lebovitz, visited Chicago, and one of my friends Kathy, who writes the blog Stresscake, got to meet him. She wrote a hysterical post about meeting David, sitting next to him at a breakfast, almost spilling water on him, and spending the rest of the time talking with him. I was so jealous. A couple days later, David wrote a post about Garrett's Popcorn in Chicago. I made a comment on the post, and the next day I noticed he responded to my comment! I immediately emailed Mickey and told her my good news.

I guess once a groupie always a groupie. A geeky groupie, at that.