Meet My Friend…Ronda

I’m a little behind in sharing this story, but I think it was worth the wait.

Several months ago, I wrote a blog post titled….Shonda Smolley. Here are just a few lines from that blog post.

“I love this little blogging corner of my world for so many different reasons. I’ve formed relationships from this blog and my Instagram account that I never imagined were possible. The relationships are great for support, accountability and even a good a laugh, but I have actually made a few friends too.

One blog reader of mine has truly become a friend of mine. Since I didn’t ask her if I could blog about her today and I do respect the privacy of others, I’ll call her Shonda Smolley. She’ll know I’m talking about her and the name will make her giggle.

Her comments on my blog really started to connect us. She saw similarities in the two of us, and began to share them with me.

Soon, we started exchanging emails that included a little more personal information. Eventually we exchanged phone numbers and now we text each other. The fact that she has an “online friend” that she has shared personal information with has her family concerned. lol

I’m going to surprise her one day soon and call her up!

We really do have a lot in common, which is what brought us together. She makes me laugh and I feel like I’ve known her for some time. 

I have no idea how she found my blog or if she even knows how she came upon it.

We will meet this year. I just know it.”

Okay, her real name is Ronda, but I hadn’t asked her permission to blog about her back then, so I made up a name, and sometimes, I think I’m funny. Please go read all about how wonderful Shonda Ronda is in the rest of that blog post.

A few weeks ago, Ronda sent me a text. She and her husband were going to visit her son and daughter-in-law in Oklahoma and she was curious how close to my house she might be. I was so excited! She was going to be about a 4 hour drive away and I knew we were going to meet!

We decided to meet halfway. I looked up what city was right smack in the middle of where each of us were coming from, and found a cute coffee shop that sounded like a great place for a meet up. We each had a two hour drive.

Once we set the date we exchanged all sorts of silly text messages talking about how excited we were for our meet up!

She arrived at the coffee shop before me and sent me a text to let me know that she was there. She said the coffee shop was perfect and then for the last several  minutes of my drive, I felt like a little kid heading to a play date.

When I walked in the door and saw her it was just like I was seeing an old friend, yet we had never met in person.

We hugged and cried and laughed, in that order.

As I was hugging her, and crying and laughing, I noticed over her shoulder two girls in the front window of the coffee shop taking our picture. I thought that perhaps she had brought her daughter-in-law and a friend with her. Because really, who drives alone for two hours to a small town that you’ve never been to before to meet an online friend??

I said through my tears, anticipating meeting her daughter-in-law….”Is that your daughter-in-law?” to which she replied…” No. That’s just a stranger that I asked to take pictures of us meeting.”

Cracking up. Totally something that I would ask someone to do.

The girls then came over with her phone and told us that it was a great moment to watch and to enjoy our time together.

 

We talked about the fact that we had never heard each others voices before. She sounded exactly like I thought she would!

 

I am so glad she thought to have someone take pictures! 

 

We met at 10:00 am and we were still chatting away after 1:00 pm.

I’m pretty certain that we could have talked well into the evening. We both knew that we would meet one day and now I look forward to our next meet up!

Love you Ronda and thank you so much for reaching out to me on the blog and for becoming my friend! Can’t wait to see you again!

Here are yesterday’s eats….

Breakfast – 8 SP

1/2 Serving of Big Ass Waffle batter in pancake form topped with Chocolate Almond Butter, Egg White Omelet stuffed with one Laughing Cow Cheese wedge and 1/2 a Kiwi.

 

Lunch – 9 SP

I was playing with Sweet Potato Toast. I topped three of these small sweet potato rounds with Smashed Avocado, then one with Tomatoes, one with Smoked Chicken Breast, one with Scrambled Egg and topped those with Everything But the Bagel Seasoning and then one with Almond Butter.

 

Dinner – 14 SP

Dinner out. Blackened Salmon Caesar Salad and a Beer.

 

Snack – 3 SP

1/2 Cup of this Oatmeal Cookie Halo Top!

Can you eat just 1/2 Cup? 

 

Daily SmartPoints Total = 34

 
2017 Goals
Make time each week to Meal Plan
Drink 100 ounces of water each day
Exercise 5 days a week
Eat three meals and one snack daily
FOUR 100 Mile Walking Challenges this year! (This goal has changed a little now that I have this fabulous Fitbit.)

“love the life you live, live the life you love”