hi.

I met a new friend today.

OK. She’s not really a new friend. And I haven’t really met her yet. But still.

Most of you are in the same boat — we woke up this morning and at some point saw a face we hadn’t seen before. In my case, there was a Twitter avatar I didn’t recognize, a new face attached to Jane Pitt’s name.

I’m typically not too sharp in the mornings, so it took a second — Oh, right, today was the announcement we had been waiting for. I opened the blog and found something different: That’s Church, the new home of Ginny Montanez, the woman we’ve known as PittGirl for the last four years.

I missed the segment on KDKA Wednesday morning when Ginny spoke with my softball coach. But I got to talk with Ginny for a few minutes later in the day; I was among the media horde that descended on her inbox when we all got to work, and I’m thankful I was one of people she agreed to talk to.

My story probably won’t be all that different from the others that will run Thursday morning, so I won’t tell you about those details. What the story doesn’t say: she was friendly, open and very forthcoming. And she seemed to be honestly flustered over the attention she was receiving, just as she was in November when she shut down the Burgh Blog.

When I was done with my questions, I told her briefly about my decision to give up anonymity a couple years ago and that the decision led me directly to the friendships I have in Pittsburgh today. It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time, but it turned out to be a pretty important thing for me.

I don’t know how many of the Pittsburgh peeps she’s met so far, but I hope she does the same thing. I told her that if she does, she’s going to have the time of her life. As I said in her comments today: Welcome, Ginny. Hope we get to meet you soon.

UPDATE, Thursday afternoon: If you want to see my story, you can find it here.

The beautiful — and slightly disturbing — photograph shot by Kimberly Reed Photography.