One Year on an Island
Friday, Nov. 28, 2003, 10:37 p.m.

QUESTION: One year already?

WHAT I LEARNED: A journal is a many splendored thing.

Wow, one year on Diaryland. Time flies when you�re having fun. Diaryland is one of the things I happily place on my what-I�m-thankful-for-this-year list. It�s not just the diary itself, or the actual process of journaling online versus more standard offline journaling. It�s the interaction with other diarists and visitors that stop by Suburban Island that makes me wonder how I ever got along without it. I am alternately amazed, delighted, and enlightened by the thoughtful words of wisdom, wild variations of humor, and radically differing perspectives on life exhibited by my online pals. I may not be able to write an entry every day and I may fall behind a bit in my diary reading at times but it�s always high on my list of things I WANT to do versus the things I MUST do.

Sometimes when I am slogging through my daily duties, I find a Mona Lisa smile playing around the corners of my mouth. It�s because no matter how the day goes, I know I am going to find a few minutes to sign on here and find a respite from everything that makes up the average day. I have another layer to my life beyond what most people see � beyond work, beyond the duties and delights of home, and beyond the standard extended family and friends paradigm. I have friends I�ve never met face-to-face and I�ve visited places I will never get to travel to in person. I�ve sat down at other people�s virtual kitchen table and listen to them pour out their hearts. I�ve felt happy for people as they celebrate the joys in their lives and commiserated with others during their darker hours. I�ve gotten to know grandmothers and teenagers, moms and dads, college students and high school teachers, historical ladies and talkative cats. And I have learned the value and depth that each person brings into this world that we may not ever see because normally we might see them without looking a bit deeper. An online diary gives others a chance to get and give that glimpse beyond the passing look. I have learned a lot through reading and writing online this year. I thank everyone who visits here to check in on my adventures and misadventures, and also to those that take the time to share some of themselves with me in the form of a note or a guestbook entry or a comment.

I appreciate the opportunity to have a Suburban Island and all that that represents - from what I put into it, to what I take back out of it. And when I�m here on Suburban Island, I realize there�s always a reason to turn on the sunshine and an island can be the least isolated place in the world.

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