The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt.Frederick Buechner
When Janine first visited my blog, I was enamoured by her positive and friendly manner. Her writing is most impressive and I await her Saturday posts with gratitude.
Years ago, when I first began the practice of serious writing, I participated in many online classes in personal essay, short story, etc. Intrigued me to discover the intimacy developed between writers through our sharing and trust. Never occurred to me that the only thing missing was actually having met them in person. Seemed like they lived next door.
Once at a writing conference, I began a conversation with the woman sitting next to me. She said something that struck me as familiar. I glanced at her name tag to discover she was indeed familiar. That I knew many of her secret thoughts and desires, much about her family and dreams. That we had crossed paths in several places in the neighborhood of our real world never knowing we had knowledge of such private details about one another.
So goes the world of blogging. We share ourselves in a manner that opens our minds to new thoughts, ideas, and opinions while handing out parts of ourselves. We learn the heart of some that perhaps the people who live in our own homes don't know. I'm grateful for that venue.
Today, I consider Janine and other blogging friends in need of care, along with many others in my visual "family" that I offer my deliberate attention.
P.S. Please visit Teacher's Pet for a note from Janine.
It's so true, and somehow odd to me, that we share ourselves more openly on our blogs than in real life. I think I get some idea of safety; at least if someone disagrees with me, or mocks me, I won't see it face to face. But, better than that, I have the affirmation of well-thought out comments in response to what I've revealed in my post. I'd love to meet some of the people that I blog with regularly in real life, and I wonder how our relationships would be effected by the removal of barriers set up via the constraints of a computer.
ReplyDeleteI'll certainly pray for Janine. I believe in the power of prayer, and the healing He gives. I believe in supporting one another.
I do so agree about blogland. One gets a circle of friends who interconnect and although you rarely if ever meet you feel able to share thoughts with them. I too shall think of Janine.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely. Who would ever have predicted such strong relationships could be formed through words and hearts shared in this way? On my way to check out the links and adding my prayers for Janine.
ReplyDeleteOh yes. I've made terrific friendships with fellow bloggers. It's a small world with the Internet. Thanks for sharing your friend's struggles, too. I'm heading over to her site.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely visit her blog, and you are right I know more about my blog friends, than I know about my next door neighbours..
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way...Bellezza is spot on.
ReplyDeleteI visited Janine's blog and it is wonderful. I am following her now, and I will keep her close to my heart in my thoughts and prayers.
That common thread that bonds us together in blogland is special. I too honor Janine and all others who are in need of our prayers and positive thoughts......:-)Hugs
ReplyDeletePrayers are being sent for Janine and her family. It's so true that we get closer to our blogging friends than even we realize and I for one love it. Great poem,we should all remember this with our thoughts and actions.
ReplyDeleteThis is true for me as well. I am surprised about how much I think of my blog friends throughout the day. I miss them when I can't get the time to read up on everyone. I am drawn to sharing myself even though I never know who will visit me. I think that when you are living right before God, you are more open to share hopes and disapointments. On my way to meet Jamie now!
ReplyDeleteJanine is in my prayers.
ReplyDeleteHow right you are about us knowing one another here, even though we may be strangers if we met in a room of people!
Great post! And I will keep Janine in my thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully said. I can't add a thing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post. Blogland is, indeed a small village. I have just visited Janine's blog for the first time. Though I have seen her here and there in my travels, I had not had the pleasure of meeting her before. Jackie is a dear blogger friend of mine already. Small, small village.
ReplyDeleteI wish Janine all the very best and will keep her in my prayers.
I think Bellezza has said it all. There is a kind of safety behind the monitor screen. And sometimes blogworld is more real than the "real" one.
ReplyDeleteJanine is in my thoughts. May she come through with her lovely spirit--and lack of "cool" (she is, she just doesn't know it) intact.
There's not much I can add to what everyone has already said, except maybe give another example of neighborlieness in the blogging world, and that is of you, Julie, emailing me to ask if everything was ok when I hadn't posted in a couple of weeks. That meant a lot to me because it said that someone out there has noticed me and cared to check. Something we hope our friends and neighbors will do in our 'real' world!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post. My sentiments exactly.
ReplyDeleteI'm on my way. . .
ReplyDeleteSo true. It's so much easier to be totally ourselves with our bloggy pallies than in real life.
ReplyDeleteI'm praying for Janine.
What you express is so true Julie...I'm part of a wonderful blogging village of friends and these little villages tend to overlap...a resident here visits a resident of another village and soon everyone's world expands...I have met and made so many wonderful friends...Janine through Jackie and Bernie and You through your mom.
ReplyDeleteLuv and Smiles,
Wanda
This is such a beautiful tribute to our dear friend Janine, and many others. Merci beaucoup, cher. I am meeting one or maybe two of my blog friends, soon!
ReplyDeleteGod bless you Janine. I hope your spirit can feel all the well wishes and prayers that you are receiving.
ReplyDeleteThank you Julie for connecting and bonding us all.
I feel for anyone hving to have chemo and I pray she gets well. I do not know the particulars, but I did go to her blog and loved what I read. I have just started blogging but I already feel like I have made some new friends already. It is a world all into itself and such a fun one. And any sadness shared makes it lighter just as joy shared makes it happier.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but I went to the wrong place and I read all her poetry about the farm etc and the lake and things. It is onlhy when I went back to try to check in as a follower that I read her whole story about the cancer. I do really have empathy for her and will pray for her even more so now.
ReplyDeleteThis is a lovely tribute to the woman and the phenomenon of online writing (and its real-life overlaps). Thank you for doing this.
ReplyDeleteI've written before that I started this blog with no real plan or expectations. It has brought many people into my 'life' that I would not have had the privlege to get to know without it. But try to explain that to a nonblogger! Their eyes glaze over quickly.
ReplyDeleteI visited Janine and will keep her in my thoughts.
The online writing community is so close, in fact, I often talk about fellow bloggers as though I'd met them, that they are friends I see daily in my life! The connections are that strong.
ReplyDeleteYou expressed this so well. Thank you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteJust beautiful. I feel the same for my blogging friends. And you are one of that group. :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely thought, Julie! Janine has been in my thoughts too. That she stopped over a couple of times just to leave a warm, encouraging note for me in the middle of a full-blown crisis in her own life was simply awe-inspiring! Such grace and dignity. Thanks for pointing to the note from her.
ReplyDeleteWhat a happy coincidence that you met Janine at the writer's conference. Remarkable, really. I will keep her in my thoughts.
ReplyDelete