So Near and Yet So Far
While tinkering with this and that this morning, I stumbled upon the blog of an old friend. Somebody I really shouldn't have lost touch with, but somehow had. One click led to another, and before I knew it I had spent the better part of an hour reading about her recent days, weeks, and months. Something occurred to me while reading.
She writes the way I used to write. The way I would like to write.
Somehow life has conspired to reduce the occaisional posts I publish to a few mundane words about the most meaningless of events. I rarely share what I think or what I feel any more.
I need to remember who I used to be – what I used to be. I need to become that person again. Reading her blog this morning was a wake-up call. A good wake-up call. A reminder of what a blog can be, and what it might be once again if only I start being a little bit brave, and sharing a little bit more.
I struggled to get up today – but why did I struggle. What am I worried about? What am I avoiding? In my experience the most unlikely friendships are forged in the gaps – when we realise that somebody else, somewhere else is not so different than us – that they have the same thoughts, the same ideas, the same worries, and same fears. The same things might make us laugh, cry, and angry – but we won't know unless we share some of them.
So I guess that's what I'm going to try and do. Remember who I used to be, how open and idealistic I used to be, and try to wear that person's shoes once again.
I wrote her an email – the blogger – and wondered out loud how we managed to drift so far apart. While writing the email I remembered a blog post I wrote many years ago – wondering if we're all like boats – floating along – and sometimes we pass other boats and travel along together for a while. Maybe we don't have to float away. Maybe we don't have to be so far away, when the internet can so swiftly bring us back together.