Cyberfriends

One of the absolute joys of reading my favorite blogs (sheilaomalley.com and alexandrabillings.com) is the way the postings reveal the bloggers, less by what they say but what they don't say; by how they describe what they do from day to day; from the way they value their friends and families; from the way they "talk" to themselves. It's like reading a guidebook for me on how to be a person of innate value, and what's it like to respond to the world from that perspective.

Sheila O'Malley and Alexandra Billings are brilliant, unique people, multi-talented and insightful, compassionate and authentic, and frequently hilarious besides. They both have such far-reaching enthusiasms and their lives are charged with the energy of creativity. They stand tall and proud, are willing to fall on their faces, and most of all, they prove every day why it's so important to build your life on a foundation of self-acceptance. Their ability to overcome obstacles and to weather through difficulties is eased by their self-evident faith in themselves. I would hazard to guess that they may not be aware of this subtext that I see so readily; After all, I believe you only notice the beliefs you have about yourself that aren't working for you.

Alex and Sheila are my cyberfriends, something I didn't know existed a year ago, and now I understand it to mean a unique type of connectedness that is similar to the days of the quill and the parchment, of sitting at the escritoire and composing long letters by candlelight to loved ones, colleagues, persons of influence, and acquaintances. Blogging is a modern technology that's allowed us to harken back to days of yore. It's a very cool thing to be able to think about what someone has written, and if an insight registers, to be able to take the time to express it in writing. I'm far less eloquent in person than I can be when I comment on a post. It's like having the deepest, most meaningful conversation with the ability to edit, revise, mull and ruminate. It's the joyous wish I had when I was young come true, to share thoughts and ideas with the authors of beloved books, to be friends with Maya Angelou and Florence King and Jean Kerr and Cornelia Otis Skinner and Robert Benchley. Sheila and Alex play very real roles in my life, and as I look back upon this last year of change for me, I recognize - and celebrate - the important influence they've unknowingly had on me.

Thanks, ladies!