Aimer, Caromarls, and Wanderer will meet in February

Some of you might have caught wind of it in the comments I have left behind in Sheria's and Caroline's journals, but in case not, I'm going to report it here and now...

I am going to meet Sheria (Aimer) of On My Mind, and Caroline (Caromarls) of A New Adventure for lunch in a couple of weeks!!

I have known Caroline (for nearly five years, I believe)... when she came to my school as a VIF teacher from South Africa. We grew very close during her two years with us, but as her time as a VIF teacher expired, she had to return to her homeland in June of 2004.

It was a distressing parting for herself, her family, her friends, as well as all the teachers and staff that had come to know and love her. For over a year, she was missed, and while she was gone I missed her voice and our morning talks, our prayers, and our whisperings of concerns as we passed each other in the halls.

While she was away, and I knew it would be temporary, though there were never any guarantees that we would ever see her again, but only faith and trust in God encouraged us to believe that we would, she kept in touch with her friends here in the USA, including myself. She sent me pictures of her third child, born two months after leaving our country. Email kept us in touch for that year of separation.

After she returned to our USA, she was with us for another year as an assistant, fighting all kinds of educational requirements and paperwork so she could get back into the classroom as a certified classroom teacher. She worked on the opposite end of the building, and I didn't pass her as much in the hallways, but it was great to see her smiling face and hear her wonderful, melodious British-like accent, so notably South African. Her children had grown so much during that one year away, particularly young Zane.

Then, in August of 2006, I began teaching at another school within the same school system, and if you've been following her journal, then you know the rest of her story. We, here at aol journals, celebrated with her in December 2006 when she posted her jubilant announcement the day she found out that she had passed all her teacher certification examinations.

So, though Caroline and I share some classroom history and a lasting friendship, we haven't seen each other very much since June of 2006.

Then there is Sheria. I didn't begin to know Sheria until after a few visits to her journal. She was Aimer to me in the beginning, when I came across her journal, featured on the Guest Editor Six Picks in November of 2006. I found her writing to be quite engaging, entertaining, and thoughtful. Only recently I discovered she had a poetry website called The Poetry Shop. I knew from her prose and occasional poem that she was a poet at heart, which was confirmed when I visited her Poetry Shop. You should check her website out if you like poetry.

What I like about Sheria, besides her wit with words and her wisdom from having lived a full life thus far, is that she is about my age, a teacher-turned-lawyer, she's an opinionated southern black woman, and she possibly lives within 45 miles of my hometown.  I always knew that someday we would meet, and last month, through an email, we made arrangements to do so in February.

She suggested we meet at a restaurant that is about half-way between the two of us, and so we are going to meet in Chapel Hill at a nice place that serves home cooked country-style southern cooking. Neither Caroline nor I have ever been to this place, so it will be a surprise for us.

We're bringing our cameras, our questions, our smiles, and our thoughts about each other. Like, I wonder what her voice sounds like? I wonder how tall she is (I'm short Sheria, real short... say about five feet!).... I wonder what her laugh sounds like... I wonder what we will talk about.... . Does she talk like she writes? (I don't... definitely not... I think my writing is more organized than my speaking).

I can't wait for Sheria to hear Caroline's voice... well, I don't want to remove the suspense, just want to build it up a bit... because, about a year ago, or perhaps even longer ago than that, I remember reading about two aol journalers who met... one drove to the other's home in the country... I can't remember who the two ladies were. I wonder if they're going to read this and think, "she is talking about me!"

In a couple of weeks, I'm going to come back and post an entry about our visit. There may even be pictures!