Guest Post Goodness: Meegan!

Holy crapballs am I excited to post this little gem of goodness. As many of you know, after building a friendship with Meegan (RedStar5) over the course of the last 15 months of our LCJ(s) our paths finally crossed in the physical sense when she came to Vancouver a few weekends ago. We had been planning and counting down  the days  for nearly four months before Val and I got to finally a chance to wrap our arms around Meegan…we will never be the same again.

In fact, I know I will never be the same again.

I am honored

I am lucky

I am blessed to call her my friend…

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Valerie Tara and Meegan

Sometimes your path crosses with someone who changes your life and you don’t see it coming. When it happens that you get to meet people who know you understand a chapter in your life like no one else  it’s magical. The trick is being smart enough to recognize the magic when you find it.

Just over a year ago I started a blog. Right around the same time, so did a couple of other dynamic and incredible women. Somehow we found each other and the magic happened. We all read about the connections you can make through blogging. The process not only allows you to tell your story but to make the most amazing connections.

Tara and I have known each other in blog land from the beginning of our LCJ – Life Changing Journey. Tara was one of the very first commenters on my blog and we supported each other along the way. To me Tara was like a blog land super hero. I’ve watched her transformation from across the continent in awe of her strength, cheering her through each milestone and she returned the favour. I’ve watched her blog grow into a space where she not only puts her heart on her sleeve and honestly hashes through the tough stuff for us all to read, she also puts herself out there to help the rest of US out on this journey. Her heart is as big as anyone’s I’ve known.

I never dreamt in a million years we would have opportunity to meet. See, Tara lives in Tacoma, WA – that’s a whole continent away from my home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. That’s around 2700 miles apart and somehow we were meant to come together. Fortunately, back in the fall of last year I found out I was headed out west for a conference in Vancouver in April and we made a plan. Tara would drive the four hours up from Seattle and hang out with me in my Vancouver hotel for a few days before the conference. From there Val (Seattle Runner Girl) and Sharla (A Journey of 26.2 Miles Begins With a Blog)  got on board too. We were all going to come together and have a Festival of Love in Vancouver. And a twitter hash tag was born – #FoL

We counted down the days for months. First it was months, then weeks and finally we were counting single digit days like kids waiting for Christmas morning. Unfortunately as we got closer to April 1^st,  Sharla’s mom duties meant she wasn’t able to join us, but she was sure there in spirit and we sure did miss her.

That first day of April I landed in Vancouver in the afternoon just before 1pm local time. Val and Tara made it to Vancouver around 6:30pm that evening. I was waiting in the lobby (getting ETA text updates from Val) to see Tara’s orange Dusty-mobile pull up and was literally jumping up and down in front of the door men. People of Fitbloggin – you need to know this: Tara gives the best hug I have ever had the pleasure of receiving – be prepared for hugging goodness!  (No offense Val – your hugging skills are a close second!)

For #FoL our biggest plan was just to hang out together. We didn’t have anything scheduled.  We just took our minutes as they came and enjoyed getting to hang out in the same physical space instead of just the same web space. There isn’t anything quite like getting to talk to people who understand the journey you’ve undertaken and get the issues that come hand in hand with massive transformation. – “Hey T – I have saggy boobies and loose skin too!”

We did the following totally normal things that became amazing because we did them together:

• Ate cupcakes – yup, us “weight loss blogger” folk still like cupcakes people!
• Went bathing suit shopping – and Tara and I actually bought one each on sale! (If that’s not magic – I don’t know what is!)
• Had a kick ass workout together in the most amazing hotel gym I’ve ever seen only made more amazing by my company.
• Had pedicures together where I convinced Tara that yes, her thighs really ARE that little and we chatted about the strangeness it is to see yourself in a mirror and not recognize who it is for a minute.
• Ate the most delicious Thai meal I’ve ever had.
• Hung out the hotel hot tub after walking the city of Vancouver all day.

Cupcakes, painted toenails and chin ups Oh My!

There was lots of action, but some of my favourite moments from our FoL were honestly the quietest ones.  With the time zone difference for me and Tara’s whack-a-doodle sleeping habits we both got up around 4am on Saturday and Sunday. Rather than waste our waking hours tossing and turning and keeping pregnant Val up – who needed her rest – we headed out and wondered the quiet streets of Vancouver before the sun came up and found a 24 hour coffee shop and swapped tales of our journey.

Before we parted ways Tara and Val and I found a custom T-shirt shop in Vancouver and had some shirts made to commemorate our weekend #FoL. The only thing missing from our photo is Sharla – but there’s enough love to bust up the camera lens.