Monday! An extremely boring paean to friendship. Apologies, I am not myself.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
ejoanna
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
art ah zen
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
Most Awesome Nana
Sunday:
loggersbrat
I had lunch with one of my oldest and dearest Colorado friends today. We have rarely gotten to see each other over the past few years, although she is my daughter's "fairy godmother." Life and circumstances intrude too often. We're thinking of going into business together :) This was actually my mother's idea, but we both like it. We are very similar in some ways, but opposite in others. She's an extrovert, I am an introvert. But she is too sweet to ever confront anyone, and I charge ahead at full speed. Guess who will be in charge of accounts receivable :)
We are both at difficult times in our lives. I have been thinking a great deal about friends and friendship lately. I have gotten rid of a few toxic people in my life. I have one left to go. I could not get through this difficulty without friends, both IRL and virtual.
It's kind of astonishing in some ways how it is possible to form bonds and care about people that one has never met, and most likely never will. But here on IAN, and DKos as a whole, it happens easily. And on Twitter, too, I have some rather unlikely friendships :) I enjoy them tremendously. Virtual friendships, unlike many IRL friendships, are often a true meeting of the minds, unencumbered by looks, age, or commonality of school, neighborhoods, mutual friends, et cetera. On my Twitter, and the outside DKos blog, it's all politics. But sometimes, you connect on a deeper level. And I am so very grateful for that.
About 25 or so of my FB friends are women that I met on an online fertility forum. We all suffered from infertility, and were all trying to get pregnant. Some of us succeeded, some didn't. Some of us were in our 20's, some in our 30's, some in our 40's. The drama was INSANE at times. There were literally GANGS. It is still amazing to me that I never got banned :) I have, however, met several of these women IRL. And we're still friends!
I was the Admin of a rogue board. That was pretty amazing. We could talk about anything, and did. Now we are all on FB, and know each other's real names. We're pretty tame now, without anonymity and with other friends and family reading our posts. But the 12 of us are still deeply connected.
Sorry, this is boring. I am uncharacteristically rather depressed. Because this is something new for me, I am not quite sure how to handle it. And that is why I have been thinking about friends and friendships. I saw another friend last week, who told me that I was the only person besides her adult children that she could trust. Apparently, she had purposely told me something and then waited to see if it came back to her. It didn't, because I keep the secrets of others. I decided not to be perturbed that she felt that she had to test me. She's in a strange place.
Anyway...hope that everyone has a good Monday! Thinking of Most Awesome Nana, and sending positive vibes for good health :) I am so grateful for all of you, and this group. And eternally grateful to Noddy for her trust in me, even though I was quite new. I was gobsmacked to find out that Noddy had made me an Admin!
I have been a rotten host recently, and I apologize. I have to finish wrapping presents and have two appointments tomorrow, but I have a sleep aid that DH got for me, so hopefully I will fall asleep and wake up at decent hours :)