Living in interesting times

Today is significant for me. It was 11 years ago today that I landed in Australia. At the time I also had with me my four year old son, a ne'er-do-well (ex) husband and my dad.

Today the skinny little four year old is almost 16 and taller than me, the ex is about to start a new phase of life after a subsequent failed marriage, my dad passed away peacefully two years ago, and I have a most wonderful new husband and two great grown-up stepsons, who also brought with them a large and welcoming extended family. Changes, huh?

What fascinates me is that mine is just one story amongst the millions of people on this earth. Even right now in my work and social circle I'm in touch with people who are separating from their long term partners, leaving for new horizons overseas, celebrating milestone birthdays, finding new ways to get through the daily grind, dealing with health problems, family problems, celebrating new births and every other kind of situation you can think of.

That's why I love blogs and I love reading blogs - especially of people that I know. On the one level it lets us know that we're not isolated, that others share similar pains and joys, and on another level, when it's someone I know, it allows me to get to know them that little bit better; creates understanding and promotes tolerance.

And the stories, the experiences, I love to hear them. I especially love to hear peoples' views of places they've traveled to; not how much a cup of coffee cost, but what the new experience did to their senses, how it altered their view of the world and how they responded; did it change them?

We're a myriad of people with a lot of stories, just like that old TV program The Naked City - "In this city there are a million stories..." and in the blogosphere, if you're lucky, you get to look in on some of them.

I saw a play on Friday night, and in it the actor said that as people, we are our stories, and our stories make us and make our families, contributing to that ongoing thread through the generations we call culture and tradition.

Despite what some people say, those things haven't died. We've got a brave new way of allowing them to live and be told through the internet, and I for one am loving it.We can share and support and do it all from the comfort of our own homes on the internet if that's how we choose, and we can travel to faraway places to be with people we love, if that's what we'd prefer. Never has there been so much potential for good within the field of human communication. Lets make the most of it.

Its probably truer now than ever, we certainly do live in interesting times.

Have a great week, everyone.