Number One!

Well, I've finally done it. I've gone where many have gone before, but thought it would be a place I'd only visit. I've taken the dive into the sea of bloggers. I've heard it's quite a large sea, so maybe I should change that to "ocean". I'm hoping mine is a friendly ocean, mostly calm, with nice, surfable waves, not too choppy, very few storms, and lots and lots of nice, bright sunshine. I never thought I would join this particular ocean, mostly because I never really thought I had much to say that anyone else would really want to read. However, I have come to realize that this is really an exercise more for me than it is for anyone who chooses to read here. Most of us have probably at least heard about journaling, if not done so ourselves; I certainly have. However, lately, I haven't had much enthusiasm for putting pen to paper, so it's been awhile, and most of my real life journals are collecting dust.

I have also found, much to my great joy and surprise, that a few friends of mine also have blogs, and I've very much enjoyed reading through them at all hours of the day/night, depending on when I have the time. I like the fact that I can hop on this magical thing called the internet, or as some call it, "the interweb", and easily hook up with my friend's pages, enter their lives either where they are currently, or jump back to the past that I haven't fully caught up with yet, and re-live some of their old memories. This has allowed me to feel much more connected to them, their families, and feel as though maybe they really aren't as far away as they once seemed (even though one lives in Africa and the other one in Holland). Yes, this magical device makes the world a little bit smaller, and more accessible. And, fantastically enough, it's something I can afford! (That's a big bonus in my world). Having lived in the Midwest for the past 16 years, and having not really been able to travel much except to California and Idaho, I have to say I have felt "landlocked" and isolated in this area also known as the Great Lakes Region of the U.S., part of the Great Plains (it is very flat around here), or, as some just 30 minutes north of me like to say, "The Frozen Tundra". Unfortunately, I have to agree with the last definition, and it's that way more often than I would like. I often feel as though I haven't quite adapted to this different "culture", and so, never quite feel "at home" here. Being able to read my friend's blogs, and hear what they're up to, helps me feel not so isolated, and more "at home" here in this land I now do call "home". Being able to travel in my imagination to a warm Africa for awhile can ease me into the soon-to-come winter, even as the wind is howling outside my window tonight during a rain storm. (I am thankful for rain, knowing they are having a drought in Africa and Calif.). Taking a trip to Holland, or Amsterdam, or Germany, depending on where my friends there are traveling, helps me to remember that I'm not alone in terms of feeling different in a place that doesn't much care for different people. I also get to do some really cool sight-seeing without the expensive plane fares! Now, that's something. In addition, I get to try to see things from a different perspective; maybe I'm stuck in a rut of gray days with no sun, or struggling with a conundrum in my head, and I just need a break; my friends give me great opportunities to tune into something outside my own life experience (I can imagine myself enjoying a nice mango with Lisa, or going on a walk with Maury the dog through the village with Gretchen), and by doing so, enlarge my own world in the process. I know that by reading about their adventures, I have become more attuned to current events, politics, art, history, music, religion, culture, literature, social justice issues, emotions, and maybe most important, the qualities of faith, hope, and love. What else in this world holds us all together, anyway? To me, it's all about connection. Where would we be without connection to one another?

So, my intent is to brush up on my writing skills, put down my thoughts on various and sundry topics, which hopefully will be wide-ranging, and perhaps, in the long run, I will be able to become a more thoughtful, enlightened human being. And, maybe you will find something you like here that you also want to comment on, put your two cent's worth in, rant about, or just say hi. I hope this will be a place where we can engage one another in conversations. Many, many conversations. I look forward to hearing from you! And, who knows....maybe in 10 years, I could earn another Master's Degree, this time in Surfing; only, it would be on that great big ocean called the World Wide Web that I have just become a part of!