Wednesday, February 20, 2008

THE JOY OF VIRTUAL FRIENDS AND WHY I LOVE THIS BLOGGING THING AND LOVE & PASSION POEM #20

When I started this blog, I had no expectations. I had no idea who I would meet or if anyone would care about what I have to say. I just wanted to share my broken heart. I wanted to put my life out into the universe as a way to heal. It will be a year in May 2008. I am amazed that I have so much to say. My "True Love" friends are still in shock about what I share here. They can't imgaine why I do it. It is beyond their comprehension. But they have noticed that I have changed dramatically. I am no longer fearful, or tearful, or distant and depressed. I am more of myself these day than I have been in a very long time. Stripping down to your soul for all the world to see takes guts. I needed a gutsy act to jumpstart my heart and push me forward.

Never did I dream that I would fall in love with a community of folks that have wished me well, cheered me on and offered sage advice. Folks from all over the world have stopped in. Folks who are as diverse as snowflakes. I have been able to chat with folks in faraway places about things I wouldn't have time to discuss with my "True Love" friends. I have connected with folks so deeply that I can't imagine my life without them. It is as if I have always known them. My blog roll reflects just a few of the places I love. I may have to take a page from CapCity and commit a whole page to a blogroll!

What has been the most surprising is the number of blogs created by Brothers. That alone has restored my faith in love. These Brothers are writing about love and broken hearts and poetry and family, children, joy, books, science, music, you name it--there is a Brother somewhere blogging about it. Brothers have welcomed me and nurtured me in my short time in the blog world and I am truly grateful.

Sisters already know how to connect and support each other. I believe it is in our DNA. It has been Sisters posting and cheering and checking in. It has been the most healing of experiences feeling the love of Sisters from around the globe. There are Sisters who are up against it with their health, love lives, families, jobs you name it. But yet, and still so many have found me and had extra love to share. I am in awe of the power of love and connection.

So to all my virtual "True Love" friends THANK YOU! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR KIND POSTS!

Derek Walcott
Love after Love

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

18 comments:

Hawa Bond said...

Rock on, Babz!!

Writing is unbelievable therapy. Although I've been blogging for over a year, I've been keeping a personal journal since I was 13 years old. I'm 36 now, so imagine the fun of reading your old journals - in your old kiddie handwriting.

What amazes me the most... How many things changed from then... but more so... how many things stayed the same.

Hawa from
Fackin Truth Blog

Mizrepresent said...

Me loves you too Lovebabz! I feel like you...in so many ways, exposing myself to the world, but it has in return uplifted me. I loved hearing you on Capcity's voicemail...you sound so lovely, and cheery, and huggable...and i don't mean that in the GAY way...just meant, you sound like someone i would enjoy being around. So we got to do this...you know when lady. Thanks for the love you show my blog.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Hey Hawa Bond,

Yes indeed this blogging/writing is very therapeutic. I can't imagine not doing it. I too have tons of journals and they are so funny to go back and read all my teenage angst. How precious!

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Mizrepresent,

Youa re too funny! Not in a GAY way indeed.. I am so cracking up about that! Of course I knew what you meant. Your blog and your talent is phenominal. I have very confidence that we will meet and hang out and have a funky good time! You my Sister-friend now!
Thanks for all the love you show me and my blog. Your kind words have made a big difference to me and my journey. Thank you!

CapCity said...

Glad u've opened yourself to the universe & all it's glory, Sistah LoveBabz!
Blogging has definitely opened my creative portals (can u tell i'm reading L.A. Banks, now? ;-)
But for real, I didn't really like women 'til I started blogging! Maybe cuz they couldn't see me & give me the usual "sizing up" that u KNOW we give each other from head ta toe! LOLOL!!! Now - u'd never KNOW it - women have been a blessing to me! And when Miz & I first met - her cousin thought we were old pals! This Blogging IS a phenomena that I'm thankful FOR! Technology CAN be a good thang;-).

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

CapCity you are a badd ass...I can not read LA Banks..the Vampire Huntress right? I would be up for months. Blogging is an amazing tool, you wouldn't think it would bring folks closer. But it does and I think its because it is intimate and yet distant.

Well we are destined to meet and hang and drink and hang some more!

CapCity said...

I did have nightmares through the first two L.A. Banks books - but the sistahs at BevLand "twisted my arm"! Tha's where I really learned to like & love women, for real! One sistah sent me the first FOUR as a birthday gift so I have to read them;-). They are well written - a li'l TOO well written...LOLOL!
Going to bed now - gotta get up & keep my promises to the ancestors & coupla other folk;-)

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

CapCity,

See I can't do those kinds of books and I do not watch scary movies! Good night and sweet dreams! I may check out the romance books though. I think I am in need of some good romance books.

All-Mi-T [Thought Crime] Rawdawgbuffalo said...

i am taking it that i am in that community too

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Torrence,

Without question! You have been..no you are one of the sweetest peaches I've met in the blog world. Thank you for all your kindness.

Suldog said...

Thank you for visiting over at my place, and for the very kind words. Thanks also for publishing that poem. It's beautiful.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Suldog,

Thanks for coming roun' do stop in again.

CapCity said...

U will LOVE Ms. Bev Jenkins - be WARNED - she's addictive! ;-)

Sharon shares said...

Lovebabz, I simply wanted to second all the things that hav already been said here. I wrote a very similar post about blogging just a few weeks ago...you can find it here if you are interested:

http://justwritenow.blogspot.com/2008/01/why-i-love-love-love-blogging.html.

I wrote this post about 3 weeks ago, before Santa Mega-Rich found me and gifted me with the new members of my blog fam like you, CapCity, Mizrepresent, etc.; go figure, who knew the blessings would multiply so fast!

Also, I love the poem...imagine, loving again the stranger who was yourself...yesssssssssss, been there, doing that!

Finally, CapCity knows that of which she speaks! Ms. Beverly Jenkins is a genius and I say that as a person who is NOT typically all that fond of romance novels. However, her older novels all have historical relevance that takes them to a level so far beyond romance novels it's almost sacriligious to call them romance novels. I would recommend that you start your journey into Ms. Jenkins' art with my all time fav, "INDIGO". You will love it, I promise :-) "TOPAZ" and "THE TAMING OF JESSE ROSE" are excellent choices as well!

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

OK CapCity,
I am ordering my Bev books! Gosh I already have nightstands tipping over with books I am trying to read now...But I really need a romance novel!

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Shareon,

I love your post visits here, it is like have a delicious sister-friend conversation with you. I went over to your blog and read that post...Yes! You have captured my sentiments exactly! I don't know how I missed that one---I have been reading through your past postings like a good book.

And thanks for the recommendations for Bev's books.

angela said...

babz, you are my warrior queen sister, and i am so glad that you take this risk with us everyday. we love, and admire your for it!

howa bond is so right! and like her, i've kept a journal since 12, and still have them ALL, although dear hubby doen't always appreciate that because if he say's something was one way, and i'm not sure, i can alwaus whip out one of my journals and tell it like it really was!! LOL!!

but for real, capcity is speakin it when she talks about the "sizing up" that we do-how many of us have been subject to that? and mizrepresent!! girl! you and all the others are no joke too!

you see my babz, because of you, we have all come together. i that i am most thankful, and greatful to you for.

and thank you for that poem

i love you.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

Princess,

I love you. It is not empty. It is love that will make me get on a plane and get to you. It is the Sister love. It is deep and abiding.

Your generous spirit and kind soul lifts me everyday. Everyday, I think about you and Ladybug and My man Juan and what you are doing today.

It is comforting to know that you are out there cheering for me and I am cheering for you! We are cheerleaders!

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