Becoming Oneself At Thirty-nine

I am not sure that this is going to be witty, funny, and sarcastic enough for my posse, so you better read quickly, since I give them complete leave to delete it for it's lack of punch. Quicker now! Haven't you ever heard of speed reading? Email me and I'll have my husband send you the link. Hey, it's not my fault, I am typing this just as fast as I can! I bet I am typing faster than you are reading! UH HUH!
Okay, friends, I have a question. Does anyone else out there find it easier to be themself in cyber space than on planet earth? Because I do. I reread my blog post and comments and say to myself "dang, that's me!" and am always surprised. See, believe it or not, on planet earth, I find it hard to open up to people. I have had friends who knew me for years say to me, "Helen you and I never laughed like this before, and in the last few months, we do every time we say hi! What happened?" I also have had old friends say to me "Helen, what happened, you used to be so sweet?". Even the people I teach CCD (Sunday school) with, whom I have gone to Church with for a few years point blank tell me I used to be aloof, and now I am joking around like an entirely different person.
How did that happen? Well, I can't speak for other bloggers, but I think my comfort in cyber space started because I began like I was talking to myself. I figured I know me, so it would be okay. (I also did not put my last name out there for a while, and still guard it almost as carefully as Nick the Geek does his, except you can find mine easier. Email buddies, you have it right there in my email address. Yep. Didn't I disguise it cleverly? Plus, I can google myself and get my blog, so I could use a few lessons from Nick the Geek if he cares to stop over....)
I did get tired of talking to myself, and eventually started babbling. When did I get my first commenter so that I was no longer talking to myself? Let's see....in May a woman (I think) commented about my chain letter post (I was supposed to die if I didn't send it in seven days, and since I have no desire to curse others so I can live, I was preparing my blog for my demise. BTW I did not die. Just so you know). I gave her a shout out, and she never came back. Thankfully, Katdish commented the next day, and the rest will be written in The History of Bloggerdom Volume I.
Since then, I have found myself responding candidly to issues that I would second guess talking about at a party with family members. Weird, huh? I think blogging has helped me grow in that I realize if I could honestly answer the question "Are People Inherently Prejudice" (I am going to make you work for it by searching prejudice on Katdish's and my blogs. Good things don't come easy....) and people in cyber space would still know and love me, I don't have to hide my thoughts from my aunt and cousins (Bob and mom know everything I think and feel....sometimes I tend to mutter). These "people in cyber space" have since become friends that I have grown t know and love quickly.
Sherri writes a lot about becoming transparent. I suppose that I have not been so on planet earth because I was afraid that people wouldn't like me. I didn't realize except by getting to know them that becoming transparent, or at least more so, gives people an opportunity to like me, too. Amazing!



The Sally Field version would not embed for me, so it was either this, or M.W. Smith's "Friends Are Friends Forever". Much as I personally like that song, your welcome.