About 5 years ago I was monkeying around on google and searched for a friend’s company name. I got a page or two of relevant results including his website.

I also got a result that perplexed me. So I hit the link. It was a blog. The post I landed on was probably 6 months old. I started to read. I was pretty entertained. I really liked the writing. I felt like I could hear the writer’s voice in my head.

So I backtracked and read all the posts previous to the one I’d read. Then I started reading forward. My reading started to take on an eerie feeling. The author was anonymous. And he seemed to “anonymize” his characters too. The more I read, the more I had to read. I think I read the entire archives in two days.

The last two posts were downright creepy. I knew this “anonymous” person. And not because I’d read his entire blog. I knew him!

He didn’t post for a couple of days, so the mystery remained. I was horrified because I was lurking on his site, waiting for him to post again.

Then he posted about a trip to Florida to visit family. And then he posted about returning home through the Pittsburgh airport.

The final piece slid into place when he posted about planning a groundhog party.

I sent an email to my life long friend. Subject line? Hi Uncle Crappy!

I was actually nervous when I hit the send button.

The Internet is a huge, crazy place. And somehow I found my friend.

And his blog was great!

Fast forward several months. I started my own blog because I liked Unclecrappy so much. Of course no one knew about my blog. I was just trying to see if I had a voice.

Thanks Uncle Crappy for the inspiration and for setting such a good example.