Posting In My Blog - Reaching Out to Friends Near and Far

Today's my "day off" and I brought a restring job home from the shop to get done ASAP. I can use the money, it's not a big job, and I felt like being a nice person. Sure I could have done the job at the shop tomorrow, but if I have time, I'll get it finished today instead. I also will be doing m usual 4-5 loads of laundry and (maybe) talking with Aearwen. I don't remember if this is a "YES" I'm available for a chat week, or a "NO" I'm occupied with hubby, doctor appointments, or other things week. I'm sure we'll figure it out, and if she's not available, we'll chat next week instead. 

Aearwen and I got together on a fan-fiction board that
stopped several years ago. We set up weekly
phone conversations on Wednesdays that have
been going on for years now. She's my sister
from a different mother, a dear friend. 

Many of the people I consider friends started with the Tolkien fan-fiction writers on Live Journal. The larger group fractured several years ago - lots of different reasons - but there is a core still around and I try to keep up. Although I'm not writing any more, at least not within that universe, I still try to keep up with people I got to know through that community. Those friendships - those touches of cyber-hands over the miles - are important to me. 

Friends don't have to be next door or in the same city
to still be friends. 

There are a second grouping of LJ friends I keep in touch with - not Tolkien fan-fiction writers and readers, but others to whom I linked over the years. I enjoy this group because we have other things in common - we share common common-sense thoughts, we are artists or craftspeople, or we just happened to link up at some time through other people's blogs and it still works for us. There are some great people who keep me on my toes in this group of cyber-friends. 

Friends are the very best. I don't think we can live
without interaction with others. Solitude is poison. 

Then there are the Dreamwidth friends. Many of these friends started out on Live Journal, but moved to an alternative playground when LJ was taken over by a Russian owner. I've had a DW account for years, but I find their interface just a little harder to work through. I haunt both places though, and have friends who are on one but not the other, so reading both DW and LJ is essential for me. 

Reaching out to your friends is sometimes all they may need
to get through a hard time. Remember to be open to them. 

My own posts are really for my personal blog and I copy and paste them to DW and LJ every day. Writing these daily posts - more than 2800 of them now - allows me to keep my thoughts in order, keep in touch with others, and reach out to friends who read in any of the three places I post. Through my blog I talk to each of you and say "I know you. I remember you. I care about you." That's part of what defines friendship, even when friends have never met in person. 

Have a wonderful Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow. Yesterday I indulged and swam outdoors in the rain. I'm not sure whether I'll be indoors or outdoors today, but just being in the water will be wonderful, as always. Enjoy your day and celebrate your friends, near and far.