blogging community | The Contented Crafter

If you have been tagging along with this blog for a while you will have read on many occasions of my appreciation for the delightful people that blogging has introduced into my life. I love how certain folks circle around different bloggers, how we introduce each other to new and exciting blogs – how we click with new people. I sometimes forget how I stumbled across someone and then will see another name in the comments and remember that I gatecrashed their party a year ago and have been having a growing relationship ever since ….. I’ve made some really good friends while blogging. And never actually met a single one of them!

But that is all about to change!

Recently some of these friends put their heads together and decided to make something happen. They invited me to come stay for a few days. A week of chatting and outings and chatting and touristing and chatting and just getting to be in the same space in real time – to look, to touch to hug! To chat. To just be together.

How cool is this? How wonderful? How amazing, how generous! I have been completely overwhelmed about the whole idea, completely blown away by their kindness and generosity and sometimes stunned to a standstill with excitement. The adventure of a life time! An unexpected joy! A dream come true, a true ‘blogger friendship’ story!

Unexpected gifts! It’s so amazing to me, how does such an event occur – what serendipitous movement of planets caused this little miracle to take place?

Are you interested yet, do you want to know more?

The plan is for four of the five to travel to the home of the fifth. There we will be hosted and have a wonderful opportunity to relax and have fun just spending time together. Only two of these bloggers have met before, though we have all spent time on Skype together and separately. We email, message via facebook, communicate through our blogs and have shared aspects of our lives and feelings and have quite simply developed a rapport that is multi-layered and the stuff of real friendship.

So at Easter time I shall find myself wandering among the cherry blossoms of Washington DC

Isn’t that just so pretty! Of course, I am full of hope that the weather gods will be kind and turn on just exactly that kind of early spring vista for us……..

I did some reading and found the history of the cherry trees fascinating:

http://www.nps.gov/cherry/cherry-blossom-history.htm

As the days go by and I look at these pictures, I constantly catch myself thinking – Ah! Washington DC – in the springtime. Look how pretty – how I should love to wander among all those blossom laden trees ……. You may notice I have some difficulty with the fact that this is really happening, even though the plane tickets are booked – the passport is being renewed ……. the plans are at ‘GO’……… And then, in a ‘But you shall go to the ball Cinderella!’ moment, I remember yet again and with a surge of excitement, I shall be there, I shall see this, I will wander along beneath those cherry trees!

And I shall not wander alone.

Laurie of Life on the Bike and Other Fab Things will be driving in her truck from Virginia

Kelly from Boomdeeadda will fly in from Alberta

Alys from Gardening Nirvana will jet in from California

And I, having completely given up on being Contented and become instead Wildly Excited, shall hop, skip and jump all the way from New Zealand

And our generous hostess Julia from Defeat Despair will do the airport runs ………..

High five girls!

I wish you could all be there with us – what a party we would have!

But if, by some serendipitous placement of plans and or living location, you are in the DC area over Easter, let me know and come on by and say hello – we would all love the opportunity to meet you!

Thanks for coming by today, I love that you did!

In my last post I shared the story of this, the ‘Dangler of International Happiness’

Many comments focused on the extraordinary gifts that we receive from each other within our blogging communities. Yes we receive all kinds of happy mail from fellow bloggers, gifts expected and unexpected. Random Acts of Kindness that make a smile appear or maybe even a tear drop or two. But even more precious is the friendship, understanding and positive support shared when times are hard, hearts are opened and just the smallest thoughtful word can make a big difference.

I have read posts that have questioned the reality of relationships made within the world of bloggers, claiming that we can invent ourselves to be quite other than we are, claiming that we can’t quite trust who or what is on the end of any comment, that we only present ourselves in our best possible light.

I disagree.

When over a period of time we read posts, comment and interact, the truth will out. Those who claim absolute positivity and living in the light may begin to grumble and blame. Those who build themselves up as debonair and exciting, may soon become repetitious, egoistic and boring. Those who interact simply to gain more followers for their own blog soon stop coming by and that is okay. Those who claim no particular talent or ability may reveal a huge heart, a deeper philosophy, and a better – or alternative – way.

In short we bloggers are not a stupid lot – we can see beneath any veneer, we can sift and sort, follow and unfollow. Still, I agree on this one aspect. We do mostly present the best of ourselves and that, it seems to me, is perfectly okay. What a wonderful chance to celebrate our perfections rather than our imperfections.

I sure don’t want you all peering into my kitchen on any morning before I’ve had my mug of steaming hot coffee and I’m pretty sure you don’t want me peering at you before you have finished your wake up/get up routine whatever it may be. I’m all for let’s keep this as us at our best – or at least us at presentable!

Most of the blogs I follow closely and interact with are blogs written by very real people, people with whom I may never stand in the same room and give a warm hug of greeting to, but still are people with whom I feel and experience a very real connection and sense of friendship.

Having said all that, this is also a forum where we dare sometimes to show ourselves at less than our best. There are times when life gets too much, life is hard and we are battered and bruised and in need of comfort. This is us in the raw. This is the stuff of real life. And this allows us to be there for each other in a way that is uplifting and encouraging and often inspirational.

Writing posts about raw emotions or big life problems takes courage. Reading through responses reveals the light that shines within a real, living community. I know I have some readers who find posts of this ilk not okay – for their own very good reasons I am sure. There’s a little part of me that is sad for them that they feel this way, but still I must, and do, respect their stance. Those people do not interact on my blog when I write a more personal post. And I see that I also choose not to interact with a blog when the topic or the over-arching feeling of a post doesn’t sit well with me. We all have our boundaries.

But when a fellow blogger reveals they are upset, or ill or in emotional pain and we stay and read and allow ourselves to still the judgement and stay open and strive to feel empathy instead, when we offer words of understanding and support and even practical help if we can – then the blogging world becomes something other. We create a global and spiritual reality that is based on empathy, understanding and love. We wish to reach out, we say ‘I hear you’ in a hundred different ways and we offer support any way we can.

The world needs this, the earth needs this, we as human beings need this. It counteracts the darkness of materialism and consumerism and corpocracy and greed. Those things get all the press. But here we are doing the real work of being human. And there are an awful lot of us!

This is my blogging experience, this is the community that has built around my blog and which I value more than I can say. I have been the recipient of a great out-pouring of love and acceptance and pure delight over the past year or so and with this last delightful event still fresh in my mind I want to spread the love a bit more.

Here is what I am doing and I invite you to join in the fun and let’s see what we can make happen.

There are two Random Acts of Kindness going on, you can take part in one or other or both – or none if now is not the right time. Whatever you decide is absolutely fine!

RAK #1 The Road to Serendipity home to ‘two middle-aged, penniless hippies’ has recently finished enclosing their ‘Sanctuary’, a fenced and netted garden where Fran and Steve are growing their ‘futures’ from seeds and cuttings whilst fending off the advances of quolls and possums [and Earl] who are intent on eating or destroying everything as fast as they can. My friend Dr Snail [The Snail of Happiness] and I have unilaterally decided that this garden requires BUNTING. You get to make a piece [or more than one if you like] and Fran and Steve will find somewhere within their Sanctuary to string and hang it. Just make sure there is a 4 cm [11/2″ ] hem for threading the hanging rope through – and it would be good if it was sturdy, weather proof type material involved. This is the first Fran and Steve will know about this dastardly plan – but we are quite sure they will love the opportunity to add into their sanctuary a myriad of brightly coloured, shimmering, waving fun infused bunting!

Your offering can be any shape, any size, any colour, any hardy outdoor fabric or recycled stuff. Just make sure it has that threading venue available.

Fran also belatedly threw into the mix a request for beer bottle caps as she wishes to make a beer bottle cap dangler. They can be used 🙂 That is such a cool Aussie idea!

RAK #2 Marlene at Insearchofitall is a senior citizen living with Bells Palsy, which means she cannot get out and about as much as she used to and she has days when her energy is low. Despite this Marlene has recently moved into her new forever home and has been hard at work turning what might have been described as a pigs ear into a silk purse. Marlene has a china cabinet and loves keepsakes. I am going to [possibly make and] send Marlene a small New Zealand icon. Would you care to [possibly make and] send her something that will represent you to her so that every time her eyes fall upon your gift, she thinks of you. Wouldn’t that be the grandest thing!