Back in the Stone Age when I was a student, (yeah, I walked 5 miles through the Arctic Tundra to get to school. I’m 45!) I was always stunned to learn how writers, painters, photographers, musicians, philosophers of all sorts throughout the ages…from different countries, different contexts, they knew each other. They shared drinks in Parisian bars, they gravitated towards the same Venetian cafés, they slept together, shared their lovers and their viewpoints. As if “The Big Plan of Life” is designed for us to find the people in this world that we need to discover. I am so grateful to have stumbled upon the blogging process because writing is so amazingly cathartic but also because this blog has brought so many beautiful people into my life. I have always felt sort of like a complex machine that has a stripped screw. (nut? bolt?) I have felt like there is something wrong with me that cannot be fixed. It must be changed all together. Part of me seems scratched, the third song of your favorite album…you hope it will just repair itself but deep down, you know you are going to have to invest in a new album if you ever want to hear that song again in all it’s splendor. Through my experience with this blog, I have decided that I am worth that investment.

Writing helps me to identify where my problems are. Or maybe just to clarify the changes I need to make. My Blog Friends, (I could not recognize them on the street) share my journey and their input has been more helpful at times than the opinions of loved ones that I have known for most of my life. I do not do, “Pimp Your Blog,” because, as a Cancerian Soft-Shell Crab, I am far too fearful of leaving someone really important out by omission. I think that you know who you are anyway. Every once in a blue moon when I take a look away from my own bellybutton, I see you guys. Your struggles, parallel with mine. Your victories, your climaxes and your tears. I am truly amazed that we have managed to find each other. The world is huge! The blog-world is huge. What are the chances of meeting so many incredible writers/women/men/human beings? It seems totally unlikely to me, yet here we are together. My attitude today is filled with gratitude! Thank you all for holding my hand as I walk in the dark. And for making sure I never spill my drink!