Words Are Cool!

They are.

Really cool.

I was doing my evening surfing, reading email, catching up on Facebook & Twitter when I had this thought: "How cool is it that human beings can communicate in such a detailed way?"

The next thought was even better. Because it was one of those "aha" moments when something you know you've known for a long time suddenly seems different and new (which totally sounds like a Barry Manilow song).

"Reading and writing are incredibly awesome things."

It's just crazy that one person can write something and someone else, who can't see them, can't hear them and may have never even met them, can read it. And then be moved to laughter. Or tears. Or anger. Or simply given something to think about.

But wait. It gets better. It can end there or it can stay alive.

When it ends there, the reader reads, thinks, cries, laughs and moves on. A one way street.

When it stays alive it produces the next level of awesomeness. When the reader has the means to turn the tables and respond to the original author, we have a Written Conversation. And it can still be taking place between two people who don't even know each other.

People decry the tentacle-like arms of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. But those sites allow us the freedom of having conversations in a way we never have before. For example, my mother, who has 7 kids, a slew of grand kids and several great-grand kids, uses social media to actively participate in conversations with people like my cousin's college-age son. A few years ago it would have taken a lot of serendipity for that to happen.

So here's to words. Cheers.

PS - I have not been drinking.

From then to now and now to then

When the last decade began I:

• was single,
• was living at work and constantly looking for the next promotion,
• was looking to relative strangers above me on the corporate ladder for approval and support,
• rarely spent time outside (aside from sitting outside smoking and reading),
• could come and go as I pleased and yet I rarely went anywhere,
• never kept food in my house (and what little food I bought frequently went bad),
• only had myself to answer to.

As this new decade begins I:

• am still single (or single again),
• am self-employed and really enjoying what I do,
• look to my friends and family for support and to myself for approval,
• no longer smoke and I spend a lot more time outdoors, playing, doing yard work & just hanging out,
• can no longer come and go as I please, yet I get out and go places a lot more now,
• always have vegetables and fruit in my house and it rarely goes bad,
• have a great kid to answer to; something I always wanted, but never really thought I would have.

In spite of the ups and downs, changes, moves, heartaches and overly stressful periods, my life has improved immeasurably in many ways over the past 10 years. I shrugged my shoulders in 2000; life was okay, but what the heck, another year, another decade, blah. I'm starting this decade on a different note. Life is hard, humbling, dirty and sometimes painful; but it's also sweet, fun, warm, sunny and sometimes, for small moments at a time, it's utterly perfect.

Here's to a great New Year and a splendid New Decade for all of us.