In This Case, “PH” Has Nothing To Do With Chemistry. (Scientific Chemistry, Anyway.)

By far one of the best things that has resulted from blogging since the fall of 2007 is the fact that I can travel just about anywhere and have the ability–time allowing–to meet up with a friend or two (or three, or four, or five) who happens to live there.

As soon as I found out I was going to be in Detroit this week I messaged my friend Melissa to let her know I’d be in town and although I didn’t know yet what my schedule was going to be like, I hoped that she would mark the date so we could attempt a meet-up.

Melissa has been blogging for about the same amount of time as me and was one of the very first online friends I had.

Sidenote: Jim calls my online friends “imaginary friends”, but after I meet them in person I make him promote them in his mind to “real” friends.

We finally met at BlogHer ’09. This is what it looks like when two “imaginary” friends eventually ride in a limo together after a swanky party as “real” friends.

It’s extremely difficult for me to call Melissa by her name, and it’s not because I confuse her with myself even though that would be a good theory. Oddly enough, I call her my “PH”. Even more odd, she calls me her “PH” too. People often ask me what “PH” means when I mention her on Facebook and I typically look down at my shoes and blush a little bit, because it’s a little embarrassing to tell the story…which is why I thought it would make a great blog post.

Back in the day, Melissa–er, my PH–and I used to have teenaged girl-like “arguments” about who was a bigger fan of Duran Duran and specifically, John Taylor.

One day, for lack of a better comeback, Melissa called me a poopyhead.

Then I called her a poopyhead.

Now we are in our mid-forties, with a nickname that presented itself to us on a silver platter, completely without warning and once again proving Life Rule #1073: You Can’t Choose Your Own Nickname.

I was able to visit with my PH last night at an awesome jazz club in downtown Detroit. Well, a little: the music was really loud (But AWESOME!). I hope to see her again soon!

(Love you, PH!)