For me there's an enormous difference between adding birds to my life list (something I've been doing for more than thirty years) and meeting Mudcatters.

When I spot a bird species that is new to me, I am seeing some of the wonder of nature in a form that is new to me, and I love doing that.

However, when I meet a Mudcatter I've not met before, I am not only observing that person, I am also interacting with them and getting to know them better as an individual. I am getting an opportunity to put a face and 3D personality to a person I have previously only had an opportunity to interact with through words on a screen, or in some cases, through talking over the phone, which makes my experience of reading their words online much richer and more interesting, and also more real. And it gives me an opportunity to become friends with people I might not have become friends with otherwise.

For me, even if it is someone I have not gotten to know very well in the forum, when meeting them in person, it is a lot like encountering long lost family members, and there is, more often than not, an instantaneous bond of some kind that goes way beyond what I experience when meeting new people for the first time that I have not previously encountered online.

And often I find that I enjoy people I had not gravitated toward in the forum far more than I had supposed I would. I would miss out on a lot of great experiences if I only confined myself wanting to meet the people I become closest to in the forum. And I would also miss out on a lot of really great musical experiences.

A good example of this is something I experienced at the first Getaway I attended. I thought I was the only squeezebox player at that Getaway, and I didn't expect to have an opportunity to play music with other squeezebox players. But someone I had not had any previous interactions with in the forum took me under her wing and found me another squeezebox player to jam with. And the other squeezebox player was a Mudcatter I had never even heard of before, but he is a very gifted musician, as well as a man of great kindess and generosity. I had a great time jamming with him.

Of the person who found the other squeezebox player for me, I pretty much never have any interactions with this person in the forum, mostly because she doesn't post here very much, but I am always delighted to see her at the Getaways, and I remain grateful to her for being so generous and gracious toward me at that first Getaway I attended. Had I confined myself to only seeking out people I'd already gotten to know well, I would have missed out on a wonderful experience.

I love meeting Mudcatters I've not met before.