If I have an “idol” in blogging, it would have to be Merujo

Merujo, like me, is a transplanted Midwesterner. She’s from the Illinois side of the Quad Cities (Moline) and I’m from the Iowa side. My mom was born and raised on the Iowa side (Davenport), so I know some of that city. Not enough to find my way out of a wet paper bag, but ya know…

When Merujo first encountered my blog, it was because of an entry I did regarding “explaining the ’80s”. We e-mailed each other a few times, and we discovered our common bond of the Midwest. I think the response on each side was, “Oh My God…is this weird or WHAT?”

Anyway, I had wanted to meet her for quite a while, but our schedules couldn’t jive. That’s life, but that’s also where blogs come in handy – you can keep track of folks and their “doin’s” (family saying…don’t ask…it’ll just be more confusing). If you read her blog, you’ll see she’s done a lot of traveling, a lot of photography, and a lot of other things…ALL very interesting.

I finally got to meet her, and I’ve gotta tell you, she’s every bit as engaging and fun in real life that she is in her writing. We hit it off right away…we immediately started gabbing about the things we liked back home and the things we hated.

The subject, inevitably, came around to why we moved here, and the reactions of friends from back home. I told her, “Some people were surprised I moved out here because they didn’t think I was that political.”

Her response? “I don’t think people realize that DC is about so much more than politics. I mean, I go to work every day across from the White House, flip off the President, and I don’t think twice about it. There’s so much more to this place. The DC they talk about is not my DC.”

I thought that was right on the money. I’ve become so jaded lately from work and other things in life getting in the way that I forget about it. So MY goal is to be more like Ms. Merujo and open my eyes to other things.

And also, stay tuned…I’m working on getting an interview of sorts with Stevens & Medley from 94.7 the Arrow as well as the Fugitive Brass Quintet and other “DC Musical Secrets”. I’ll try to be back more often…I PROMISE!!!!