Loose Leaf Notes

Gary Boyd’s wife Sherry refers to his online blog buddies as “imaginary friends.” For the past few years, I’ve been one of those friends, but I came to life on Friday in downtown Floyd when I met Gary and his wife in person.  They were in the mountains visiting from their home near Houston, Texas, not too far from where I lived (late 70’s early 80’s) for 7 years.    We talked over real drinks at the Black Water Loft.  The sun cast a warm glow into the coffee house and down below the street was beginning to buzz with Jamboree activity.  “This is where we do Spoken Word,” I said in between sips of Earl Grey tea.

We talked about the state of politics and blogging; my brother Danny, who died in the same Houston hospital where Gary was born; kids and grandkids; and Hurricane Ivan, which wreaked havoc on one of my favorite old Texas haunts, Galveston Beach.

I almost met Gary in 2007.  At the grand opening of the Hotel Floyd that year I was talking to blogger Fred First in the Floyd Writer’s Suite, which the writing group we both belonged decorated as one of the hotel’s locally themed rooms. Fred told me he had met Gary, who had just been in Floyd.   “What?  And didn’t let me know he was here,” I griped.  A few minutes after that, I was flipping through the Writers Room guest book and saw Gary and Sherry had stayed there while in town.  I read Gary’s words, “Sorry we didn’t catch up with you, Colleen.”

As bloggers meeting for the first time, neither of us could resist taking pictures.  We wondered out loud who would blog about the meet-up first.

Check out Gary’s blog Coffee Muses HERE.