Thank you for being a friend

This is the view out my window at the office. The tired, decrepit, rusty steel shed sags and leans like an old lady in mumu wearing baggy hose and listing toward her cane in a wind storm. The patched road and weed edged sidewalk fit right in. Thank goodness there is a little sky and my daily cat crossing the road to cheer me!

Today though, like many days to come this time of year in Michigan, it's a monochrome gray sky without even the relief of clouds looming over us and it's just not very exciting or inspiring. The window does, however, have one redeeming quality. It opens! I love the fresh air.

While I sit here combing the web for new customers, sending my faxes and emails and making calls to tell them of our wonderful products I get depressed by the repeditive dreariness of it all sometimes. While I enjoy my job some of it is just mindless drudgery. So I keep a window behind all the rest on my computer and steal a glimpse of entertaining, thought provoking, heart rending or side spliting life, one paragraph at a time. I keep one blog at a time open and throughout the day I get to peek in and see how my friends are doing.

I have never watch soaps and I hate romance novels. A movie has to have humor and pathos to make me happy or dancing and singing. I watch very little TV. Mostly a movie or some MASH reruns before bed. I like my tunes but prefer the quiet of my birds songs through the window. But now I HAVE to read my blogs every day!

I did keep a journal for years. It was just me, all by myself and nobody cared if I had a good day or a crappy one. There were a few days that a friendly word would have picked me up off the floor enough to carry on with a smile instead of club. When a friend showed me her blog and the helpful comments she got I jumped right on the band wagon and started this one.

The name I chose was supposed to recall pioneer days and wagon trains traveling on into the unknown, which is how I view tomorrow. I have had enough todays turn on me to know that tomorrow may not be what I thought it would. One, not so helpful, person metioned he thought I was a "forward 'ho"! I dealt with it, thought about it and kept the name anyway because it was mine and I decided he probably had a point.

I'm pretty out-spoken. That's why I have long comments on the sidebar. I really care about the problems my blog pals are having and if I think I can help, I have to try because I care how your lives are going. I laugh, cry, moan, and sigh and bang my head on the wall with each of the stories I read.

I started with reading people linked to my friend's blog and then started searches for people over 50, from my state, who had my birthday, who liked boogie woogie piano and anything else that caught my fancy. I found lots of interesting people having just day to day lives and making them meaningful. That they are the microcosmic views of the universe only adds to the mystery that where ever we live and what ever we are doing we all want to be loved and admired for ourselves.

If I'm busy I may get to only a few of you. If it's slower (Yay!) I might get through all of you that day. I hate missing posts! I hate being the last one to comment! And I love the interaction here in Blogland. I love seeing people care about and support each other. I like the truth you can speak to a friend without offending because they know you are trying to help.

I get slammed and flammed sometimes but it is because people get intense about the topics. So be it. I am no oracle, I can be wrong and I can deal with it. And what I feel is right is really only "right" from where I am now. It may not e right for others or even for me when I was younger. Discussing the various points of view here is stimulating and blog entry provoking. The interaction is what makes blogs so different than music or movies or books even though there are elements of all of these in blogging.

When I was starting eighth grade my Dad had broken his leg and, as he had just that year started his own business, there was very little for the five of us kids as far as school stuff. A lady I didn't know and who was really in no way even accquainted with the family took me to a really good clothing store and helped me pick a skirt, jacket, slacks and vest in dark green cordory, a plain white blouse and a tan, gold and green paisley shirt with all the socks and undies I needed. Then she got me a pair of penny loafers in a dark brown. I wrote her a thank you but I never saw her again. It made starting high school so much easier to know I was dressed like the other girls!

A few years ago my best dog ever died. I was stricken low. I did the numbers and realized he had been with me longer than anyone except my cat, Josephine, my eldest and my mate. A lady I didn't even know heard about it and sent me a little poem about our loving animal friends and it cheered me up and touched my heart that she took the time to mail it to a stranger. So I got another pup.

When I was traveling one time I left my wallet in the seat of a truck. The driver came back twenty five miles to return it to me. You can see I have been taken care of and my needs met by strangers in my life and it meant a lot to me. I did not forget what they and others blessed me with. Now I look watch for people with a need. I owe some 'pay it forwards" and "pass it on's".

Some times it just HITS YOU, you have to send something you find because you know just who it should belong to. I mean really, how many of you that follow Crazy Moo Cow could have resisted this. You KNOW it had to go to the guy who like the birthday shirt so much!

I have sent mostly photos and links to help other bloggers find what they were looking for or to reference a point. Some times I send a card or letter. I sent some small donations to a few. Some of you reply, some don't. Doesn't matter. While I love knowing you found whatever I sent helpful, amusing or frame-worthy, I love more knowing that I did what I thought was right for you from me.

It warmed my heart that Moo posted my gift. When I was testing it I poured the milk from the gallon into a pitcher, just enough at a time to make it Moo! LOL! It made me laugh! I had to get another set of batteries before I mailed it! And that's what it's all about, taking care of and enjoying each other. I had fun, my co-conspiritors had fun and Moo had fun. That's a lot of fun for a dollar!

But Friday, Hoss lost his mate of many years, Anvil was speechless and pictureless, Dale was thoughtful, Saurkraut was contemplating the definition of Mr. Right, the Useless Men were cooking again, Dan was dealing with the death of his BF's grandmother, Amber was in another space, Fred was missing, Negotiating was dealing with word definitions for her short person, Julie was ranting, Loner got new goats, and today I see Rachael is leaving blogland for a break, darn it! These are just a few of my blog people. The range of intensity in their lives covers the whole scale of emotions.

And we just help each other keep on keeping on. When I'm feeling like a gloomy gus or a raging maniac you are all out there to remind me that Thanksgiving has a point to it. I have it pretty good! I care aout all of you. Enjoy the day!