It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago that Curtis and I decided to move from Dallas, TX to the small Florida Gulfcoast town of Bradenton, FL where we’d met at our Prek-12 school. Our parents still live in the area, I’d grown up close by in Sarasota, and we had the opportunity to move “home”. Though as we packed up and our hearts felt heavy amidst an exciting decision, it was clear we were leaving a place that was very much our home as well. I’d lived in Dallas since I began attending SMU for undergrad in 2005 and Curtis moved to join me not long after that. We have the best of friends there, my younger sister was right down the street, we loved our neighborhood and our church, so moving was emotional to say the least. But we’d both separately felt a stirring in our hearts to give this a shot during a window of time where I was no longer working outside of the home and Curtis could work anywhere there was a major airport. So we set in motion plans to move.
It was the Spring of 2018 I had only just started following bloggers on Instagram. I’d loved reading lifestyle blogs around 2009 & 2010 when it was really taking off and even had my own for a bit. But I couldn’t keep it up when I started teaching and both reading and writing fell by the wayside. I promised myself I’d get back to it whenever I had more time. I even registered a domain name in 2016. In the interim, I realized some of my favorite bloggers were now on Instagram, and I also found some new ones, not to mention a whole new category called “influencers”. One day, Lee Cordon of DoSayGive came to speak to my MOPS group at Park Cities Baptist. I followed her on Instagram and then shortly after Lee shared a few other bloggers she enjoyed following in her stories and one of them was Sarah Tucker. Looking at the grid of photos she shared I could tell Sarah and I enjoyed a similar style, her boys looked around the age of my Margaret, and I trusted Lee’s recommendation. Sure enough I loved following Sarah! One day as we were preparing to move I realized she had her location tagged as Palmetto, FL and I had to do a triple take! That was the small town right across the river from where we’d be moving!
I sent Sarah a message introducing myself and said something to the effect of “even though I have the bigger stuff worked out like my OB-Gyn (since I was newly pregnant with Catherine) and also where Margaret would be going to school, could she help me with the little things like where to go for monogramming or kids haircuts? Even though I’d grown up nearby, I’d never lived here as a parent so I knew I’d need some help! Sarah was so gracious and enthusiastic in her response and through our DM convos we learned that our kids would not only be at the same school, but they’d be in the same grade and she would be our room mom!
We moved in May and for those first few summer months our paths never crossed. We were living with my in-laws while we closed on our new house and had some small projects finish up. She and her family were traveling for the summer. Somewhere during this time I connected the dots that her husband had actually gone to school with me and Curtis and I couldn’t believe how small this world was! Then at the beginning of the school year we got to meet at the PreK Preview Day and she gave me the biggest hug like she’d known me forever! The school year started, I was super pregnant and dealing not only with Hyperemesis Gravidarum but also developed PreEclampsia at the end, so I was kind of laying low. Once I had Catherine that September I was deep in newborn land and still not exactly social. Sarah kept me in the loop about Pre-K stuff and during that time more and more, Margaret started talking about her friend Wesley Tucker. About 4 months after having Catherine, Sarah asked Curtis and I if we wanted to play trivia one Friday night at our country club and I couldn’t say yes fast enough! First of all I love trivia, and I was so ready for adult time and I was excited to get to know her better! From there on our friendship developed over a series of playdates with the kids, trivia Friday nights, our first trip to Disney, and special events at school. And all the while I was following her on Instagram, reading her blog, getting her newsletter and it was abundantly clear that she was the same person whether we were sitting at her kitchen table on a Tuesday afternoon watching the kids play in the yard, or she was getting all dressed up to shoot content, and I started feeling like maybe I could return to blogging. From the get-go Sarah was a deep well of knowledge and support. I don’t think I would have done this without her. I’m not meaning to seem self-deprecating, I just mean there were so many hurdles and questions I’ve had that seemed insurmountable to me without her guidance and listening ear, especially since so much had changed since my blogspot days. Instagram had become such an integral part of it and as someone who posted in my feed about once a month I just wasn’t sure how I’d develop the stamina! But I set it all up, followed her advice to just keep going – one post or 20, just don’t quit. So in a way we became colleagues, and I was like the new hire who asks too many questions I probably could’ve just looked up, but Sarah remains generous with her help and perspective and I love that not only do we get to be in #mommode together, and do everything from thrift shop pit stops, to book club, to tennis with our kids, birthday celebrations and Disney visits, but that oftentimes we get to work together as well.
Here we are, almost 2 years later and I’m writing this as I hit the magic 10K Instagram milestone! Chances are you “Swiped Up” to get to this post, which I have no chill about! I got there through shares big and small. From people sending me to their friend saying “hey, follow her” to supportive brands sharing me in feed. But it isn’t lost on me that the first push, and the last, came from my sweet friend, Sarah Tucker, who I may have first met on the internet, but who I am quite certain was divine intervention.
Instagram and blogging in 2021 is quite different than it was 2009. I mean for starters, Instagram didn’t even exist back then. And with years of insight into social media, it is easy to fixate on the negatives. But I can tell you the biggest positive is meeting some of the kindest, most genuine women all across this country who I otherwise wouldn’t have crossed paths with. We share interests of both the deep and shallow variety. We send potty training recommendations and cute Target finds. We encourage and cheer each other on because most importantly, we’re united by the sincere belief that we are better together. This mindset isn’t limited to bloggers and influencers, but most everyone I interact with in these spaces. As much as blogging and Instagram has a business and marketing side to it, it is also a very personal endeavor. At least it is for me. And it is a distinct privilege to have real connections with real people – a privilege I don’t take lightly. The way I see it, this 10K milestone and subsequent “swipe up” feature is another extension of that connection. Whether you’re swiping up to size-inclusive swimwear, tablescape accessories, parenting tips, travel guides, or current event coverage, the trust and support that goes into that little exchange is not lost on me and for that, I am truly grateful to celebrate this with you today.
Cheers friends. Thank you for all you have done to meet me here.
