Scribbling My Life Away

Writing . . .
Originally uploaded by korestore

Three years ago today was the date of my first blog post. Is it possible? How could three years have flown by so quickly? There were no comments on that first post and I told myself I was OK with that. I'm good at lying to myself when the need arises.

If I write a blog post and nobody reads it, have I satisfied the urge that made me write it in the first place? I would have to say that yes, I have had the satisfaction of organizing my thoughts, which, unwritten, are usually a chaotic jumble. I have had the satisfaction of arranging words in a manner that pleases me and says, as best I can, what I want to say, which, admittedly is often something that is of very little consequence to anyone but myself.

As time went on and I wrote a few more, a couple of people started to comment and I had to admit I had lied to myself. Just organizing and writing down my thoughts gave me a certain level of satisfaction. But when another human being read what I wrote and felt moved to make a comment,I was over the moon!

When the OC was a small boy he used to tell his mother that when he grew up he would buy her a farm in Australia and bring supplies by helicopter every few months ~ Australia's a big country and I guess he planned on this farm being way out in the bush. Then, when we lived in Montana, he thought that some day he'd like to come back and live out in the middle of the prairie. Since I do not share his hermit-like tendencies that idea made me shudder. Not because I didn't like Montana. I did. I just knew I wouldn't like being isolated from other human beings. I like people. I like being around them. I like talking to them. I'm interested in where people are from and what they think about and what makes their world go around. The OC's job, however, meant that every three or four years we'd move to a new place. We'd have to leave a familiar place and familiar friends and go somewhere totally new and establish a life for ourselves there. Which was in some ways exciting, but in others extremely tiresome.

Worst of all was leaving friends. You'd have acquaintances everywhere, but making friends was not so simple, so that when you did you were loathe to leave them. You'd write for a few years, then it would dwindle to a card at Christmas, and eventually just peter out. There was usually one person at each place, though, who was such a kindred spirit that the friendship survived, in spite of miles, and sometimes continents between us, and those are the friends I treasure still.

Then three years ago I discovered blogging, a whole community of people who like to write, with whom I can connect whenever I feel like putting something out there, or commenting on something they've written. I've "met" so many interesting people, with whom I never would have connected without blogging. I love the interaction and I love the glimpses into other lives, often in other countries, and most of all I love the realization that we are all more alike than different.

So, thank you to all my bloggy friends for your interest, your encouraging comments, your patience when drivel flows from my pen, and not least for the pleasure of reading some of the clever, intelligent and often downright hilarious things you all write!

Here's to the next three!