The unexpected rewards of blogging

Just in case anyone out there might be entertaining the idea of starting their own blog I feel that in the interest of full disclosure I should point out that keeping up treppenwitz hasn't always been all beer and skittles. 

There have been countless times when cantankerous commenters and tiresome trolls have nearly sapped me of my will to continue.  And every few months I look in the rear-view mirror and wonder if I even have anything left worth saying.

But every so often this thing called treppenwitz opens a new door or provides a personal connection that I didn't think possible.   And just when I am asking myself why I bother doing this, I get a surprise of... if not beer and skittles... then at least cookies and cream:

Cookies:  As we were sitting down to dinner last night our postman rang the bell (no, you movie buffs, he only rang once). 

When I opened the door he handed me a package that had arrived from overseas.  It was from a long-time treppenwitz reader/commenter who had thoughtfully sent a gift to keep up our spirits during the week of pre-Pesach cleaning; two boxes of Girl Scout Cookies ('Thin Mints' and peanut butter 'Tagalongs' if you must know).

Yum!

This faithful reader (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to mention her name... but you know who you are!) and I have enjoyed a long-time email correspondence in addition to our exchanges in the comments section.  When her daughter started selling Girl Scout Cookies I asked to buy a couple of boxes, but instead she very generously opted to send them as a gift.  The generosity of the gesture was only enhanced when I noted with some guilt that the shipping cost her more than the cookies!

With only a few days left 'til Passover we have to make sure they get eaten in short order.  Somehow I don't think that will be a problem. 

Cream:  As if the cookies weren't enough to make me appreciate the wonderful, unexpected connections I've made through this whole blogging/journaling thing, a few minutes after the cookies arrived I got a dab of cream on top.  The phone rang and I found myself having a surreal-but-flattering conversation with another treppenwitz reader. 

This young woman introduced herself by saying that I didn't know her but that she was a long-time fan of my blog.  It seems she was visiting from the U.S. and staying with some friends in Efrat and wondered if she could stop by 'chez treppenwitz' to say hello in person. 

I should mention here that 'chez treppenwitz' has hosted many fellow bloggers and more than a few readers over the years.  But most (if not all) of those impromptu dinners and shabbat visits had been proceeded by weeks, or even months, of 'getting to know you' emails and comments so that by the time the person showed up on our doorstep there was the sense of meeting an old friend.

But this young woman (a recent college grad) had never left a comment in all the time she's been reading.  Her phone call was, quite literally, the first time we had 'met'. 

I have often wondered if I would have the nerve to pick up the phone and call some of the bloggers I read if I were to ever find myself in their city on business or vacation... and on most days the answer to that is 'probably not'.  So, I was extremely impressed (and flattered) that someone had found the courage to call and seize an opportunity to make just such a connection. 

When I got off the phone I told my wife about the call and that I had invited the young woman over for tea in a few minutes.  To her credit Zahava only teased me about 'my adoring fans' and stood batting her eyelids and sighing in mock admiration for about 5 minutes.  She then wandered back to her studio shaking her head and giggling. 

No, no guys... hands off... I saw her first!

Anyway, a few minutes later there was a knock on the door and I was privileged to welcome this reader to our home.  She was/is a perfectly lovely (not to mention very bright) young woman from the metro-New York area (I don't know if she'd want me mentioning her by name, so I will leave it to her to introduce herself here if she so chooses). 

Ariella, Gilad and I sat and drank some tea with her and we played the inevitable game of  'Jewish Geography' (Yonah was already in bed). In a few minutes Zahava emerged from the studio to join us and was, of course, the perfect hostess.

One of the slightly jarring things about this kind of meeting is that pretty much everything we were finding out about our guest was new to us... yet because she'd been reading treppenwitz for so long, she already knew a great deal about us.  However, in a very short time we had managed to even out this 'information imbalance' and were getting along like old friends.

True, keeping this journal has offered nearly unparalleled opportunities to look stupid and attract criticism.  But yesterday was a perfect example of the many intangible benefits of blogging.  Besides allowing me to document our aliyah process and provide a visual record of my/our transition from 'greenhorn' immigrants to relatively acclimated citizens of our adopted country, treppenwitz has been a springboard to meeting some truly special friends.

So while blogging/journaling may not be all beer and skittles, I am here to tell you that it can sometime reward you with a welcome (if unexpected) serving of cookies and cream.

Clarification for American readers:  No, the word 'skittles' in the expression I used above does not refer to the colorful, sour American candy by the same name.  Consuming a bag of Skittles® candy together with beer would be, well, unpleasant to say the least... and quite the opposite of the expression's intended meaning. 

Rather, the skittles in the expression '... not all beer and skittles' refers to a game that was the great grandfather of what we Americans call bowling today.  The Skittles are actually the pins, and playing this 9-pin bowling game was apparently once quite the popular pub pastime in the UK.  Thus the prospect of an evening spent consuming beer and playing skittles would be considered something potentially enjoyable.  For more detailed info, go here.