The blog-facebook-twitter explosion has much to be disturbed about, but there is also much to celebrate about it. It can allow people to share in ways that truly do move the heart. It can provide a platform to inspire people, and it can generate an energy around a subject that helps propel a movement of some kind.
I feel that way about the blog and Donkey Dreams. I have a long way to go to make Donkey Dreams what I envision, and that vision is evolving bit by bit. When I stop to imagine what I want this little pie and donkey sharing gig to be, I have to remember that there are already so many people that have been touched by it, and many or most of those people are from far away, people I've never met or spoken with.
The internet defiantly allows the crazies to rant without a face, the angry to vent about lovers they never really had and the lonely shut ins to find a cyber family. But it also allows genuine acts of friendship to take place. I have met people through my blogs- some are artists, some are farmers, some are just donkey crazy. Some of those are casual little email friendships, some have turned into genuine friendships developed like any other. Blog readers from all over the country ask to visit when they're coming through Oregon...while I have to screen these requests and sometimes say 'no', so far each visit has been memorable, and I'm in touch with each of them.
I spend so much time trying to blog well, and create ways to sell art, or do Donkey Dreams justice, that sometimes I forget I am making a difference. And last week, a wonderful gift arrived, not for Pino, but for me. It was a handmade bag from a woman that had already sent 4 lovely hand made aprons for the last Pie Day. But this gift was just for me, to 'keep' she told me. Her adult daughter wrote this note with the gift from her 70+ mother whose name is Ruth...
..."as I've told you, she's a pretty special person and a recent cancer survivor [diagnosed in 2007, came through surgery, chemo and radiation with rare aplomb]. She makes her bags for lots of people and her greatest joy is giving them away."
Well, that's what it is. Giving it away. That's what I want to do, give some pie to someone. Share my donkey. I know what it feels like. I do need help with it, to help defray costs. Someday, I hope to have weekend scholarships, where I can bring a cancer child or adult onto the farm. They can stay in a little retreat Airstream [now there's a dream!] and live like a farmer, or an artist, and commune with the animals. That's my dream. Ruth's gift helped me remember though, I do touch people already, and she in turn touched me.
That's the way I want the Internet to work in my life.
Thank you, Ruth. Your tote bag will be used for many things. And since I've already warned you and your daughter I'll be using is as a dirt farmer, I will take some pictures of it in action - like carrying carrots from the garden, hauling special junk, maybe even throw a chicken in it for a walk.
