I have nothing against Twitter, Facebook, G+, and sites like those. I've enjoyed using them for years and have met amazing people that way. Just for now, they are something I need to eliminate from my life. That doesn't mean I won't possibly come back to them somewhere down the road or that I think everyone else should abandon them. Some people have time for all of that and a full life... I'm just not one of them right now. It was time for me to set priorities and that's how things shook out.

I mentioned in that post that my true friends would understand. Some people don't believe or can't fathom how people you primarily know from social media sites can really be friends--true friends, as in, people you can count on and confide in. My friend, Mary, is that kind of friend. She's been there for me countless times over the past few years and continues to always lend an ear and make me laugh, just when I need it. 

She's written something that I would like you to read. Not because she wrote about me, but because I want you to know her like I do, as a caring, considerate human being who needs to know how important she is... to me, especially. She doesn't think she's a good friend but I think after reading, you'll agree with me that she is one of the best. 

Thank you, Mary!

I want to do so many things. There are many places and countries I want to visit. I want to live outside the country at some point. I want to work in a new field. I want to volunteer in a job that makes me feel like my time on this earth has meant something. As I mentioned at dinner with friends tonight, I'd love to try making ceramics and blowing glass... just to see if I can make something beautiful. There are hundreds of books I want to read and photographs I want to take. There are people I need to know better and people I have yet to meet. There are dreams I haven't even dreamed yet.

So much to do. 

Within hours of waking, I closed my Twitter account. I set the date for when I will get rid of cable television. I am pretty sure Facebook and Google+ will be closed before the end of February. It wasn't that I spent much time on any of those things but they are distractions, none the less. If they aren't there at all, I will spend those minutes doing something that means a little more in the long run. 

I shut down this blog for a few hours and then, after more consideration, opened it again. I still want this little corner of the Internet to document parts of my life, at least for now. But it may not always be here, either. I've decided to write in my journal more, and in more detail. I want an account of more day-to-day decisions and choices and outcomes and feelings because I'm thinking this little journey might be memoir-worthy one day. It's just another feeling I'm having. 

I guess I'm trading in a lot of different connections with hundreds of different people for a few, heartfelt, trustworthy, quality connections. Online friends are wonderful and supportive and there have been times when I wouldn't have made it through the night without them, but I have confidence that the online friends that have become true friends will always be with me. If the others fall away, then I'm willing to live with that. And my true friends will understand my decision. 

The best thing I've decided to do so far this year is sending a handwritten note to someone new each week. There's something about sitting quietly and thinking about someone, especially someone you don't know extremely well, and thinking about what they mean to you, and putting that to paper. It's not only a great exercise in friendship, it's a great writing exercise, and I think the connections I make doing this are going to be strong and important.

It's just another feeling I have.