Finding Joy in Snarkville

I know it has been a hugely long time since I blogged — let me bring you up to speed (in case anyone still reads).

1. I’ve driven nearly 3000 miles — many of those included a screaming cat in the car.
2. I’ve lived in hotels for nearly 3 weeks.
3. Have witnesses the packing (and mostly unpacking) of 200+ boxes.
4. I went from being the new kid in the neighborhood to the welcoming others who are newer — of course, I welcome them with brownies.
5. I’ve had house guests for the first time in YEARS.
6. I’ve toured the yarn stores, attended knit nights, found my people, and thought about picking up my needles again. (They were set aside for the needed unpacking part.)
7. I’ve appeared on stage again after more years than I can count — it was everything I remembered it to be.  Adding to the checklist to do that again.
8. I found a church to attend in near record time.
9. I took a trip underground.
10. I survived 24 hours with no phone or internet.  I know, I was shocked too.
11. I found home.

Perhaps the last is the most impressive.  I do love it here in my new home.  This is despite the fact that the locals seem to get great joy out of reminding me that it does snow here and I might like it now, but I haven’t seen winter yet.  But I do love it here.  I hope Prince feels the same way I do, because I’m not really joking anymore that I’m not leaving for while.

But this all has nothing to do with last night.  You see last night, I got a call from my old yarn shop during their knit night — they set-up a video feed and I got to hang with my peeps.  Now, they know that they were what made our time in the Snark State better for me.  They know that I hold them in my heart with a level of awesome that we don’t hold for much of those years.  Heck, even Prince knows that my ‘peeps’ were the best thing for us out there.  They gave me friends and an outlet — heck, there is a group of people that attempted to understand me and my weird ways.  They gave my son a girlfriend that I hope he will know for the rest of his life.  He misses her too and asks about her (He kept her little plastic ring with his special things, like rocks.)  When I unpacked my yarn, I thought of my friends — most of whom helped me pick it out, teased me about my stash, and encouraged me to do better.

I have a lot to be thankful for my friends back there.  The thing I’m most thankful for is that they still love me.  They still include me, even if it has to be from afar.  And they need to know that they made my night.  I stayed up way past my bedtime and I wouldn’t change it.  (Though, next time I think I want a tour of the new yarns there.)  Maybe this will usher in a new era in knitting groups.  We are a more mobile society than ever before — and to have cyber moments like this was truly connecting.

It is thanks to this group that I was looking for my next group.  LLK people, you’d love this group too.  They are just like us and we them.  And that was refreshing.

So, here’s to more cyber knit nights.  I miss you so much.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 10:15 am and is filed under Be Smarter than the String. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.