Bonnie: Thanks for this thread. I have been thinking about this too for some time. I have asked myself:

"How would my cyber friends think about/relate to me if we met in real life?"

or

"Would we even be friends if we met in real life"?

Every one that I have met (there are a lot of Mudcatters in the D.C. area) has been great. I see myself as being more shy and bumbling in real life than here. That could be because real life socializing has to be practiced or it becomes rusty for me (work and family interactions are different). It could also only be a perception and often our perceptions of ourselves are not as others see us.

Anyway, Music and the Mudcat have become my refuge to some degree from my other life (I'm not sure which is "real" anymore). Consequently, I also wonder at times if I want them to mix. It is an interesting question.

I do know that nothing substitutes for actually meeting and sharing music and other things with people. I caught myself thinking last month that I couldn't go to an Autoharp club meeting and play music with people because it interfered with a Hearme sing. Then I hit myself in the head and asked myself what was I thinking.

We should all get out and share our music, interact with other people in the real world, excersize our socializing muscles! The Mudcat is great but it just isn't the same.

JAB