My dear friend,
When I read @galenkp’s weekend engagement post and saw the prompt about writing a letter to one and only one Hive person, I knew instantly who I would write to (whom, right?). There was no need for me to leaf through my followers or following list to pick out a deserving person – there is none more deserving. I didn’t give a moment’s thought to whether this person or that would result in greater rewards on the post – my rewards from having met you on Hive have crossed into priceless beyond measure.
It was January 2019. I’d been in these parts a few months, with very little to show for it. No one other than one haiku writer had paid me the least attention. Then I tried my hand at a freewrite, my first ever. My first freewrite remains etched permanently on the blockchain, with a comment from you. You read and commented on the post that has, essentially, launched my passion for what I do most on Hive, freewrites.
The next thing I knew, you were following me, bringing my followers all the way up to an astonishing forty one. Here is the second comment you ever made on one of my posts, a post of gratitude for my having been adopted by @freewritehouse for a week:
Late to the party but I'm now Following you!
Gardening a micro-prairie is awesome (plus you have chickens!! We have so many fox, wolves, coons, etc, I haven't even tried). HOW COOL that you also sing at a jazz club! Our son is a jazz bassist living in New York , staying out of debt, but not earning enough to have a wife and kids (his sister thinks he needs to but he's happy, so hey!).
The techno-challenges of Steemit are legion. Formatting glitches still plague me. Hang in there! And call on fellow Steemians for help with the glitches (Bruni is a great resource as you've already found). Welcome to #freewritehouse!
There was that spate of time when we wrote haiku together, in the comments of one or the others posts. Here’s the first of them:
modest goddess
engaged with nature
the wedding is off!
Then there were those afternoons we spent trading comments on various posts. We’d carry on whole conversations on @deirdyweirdy’s posts, or @goat-girlz, or @mariannewest’s or or or… You taught me how to write comments! Nobody leaves comments like yours. Most of them could pass as posts of their own. You delve. You research. You expound. You downright effuse. You disclose. You provide. And let’s not discount the fact that you never use the word “moist.” Should any awards be given for Best Engagement on Hive, you would get my vote, no question.
It would not be a stretch to say your interest in me and my writing inspired me to continue producing it for this long; I write everything, in large part, for you.
Our friendship grew. It became too big to exist on Hive alone. We exchanged phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, books (mostly you to me – thank you so much!), poetry (ditto), literary critiques (same), cards (you guessed it), and political/social opinions.
When I suffered a terrible loss, you were there more consistently than any other person in my life, either online or in the flesh.
I write to you today, Palm Sunday, knowing that this is the first anniversary of one of your most terrible losses, the loss of a third sister. It’s got to be a rough day, yet you found the time to email me about my grief of all things, and not yours.
I don’t know how to wrap this letter up other than to tell you how much I love you.
All my love my dear friend. I love you.
@CarolKean, this is for you.
This is my entry for one of @galenkp's weekend engagement writing topics. I have never met this person in the flesh, and so I have no photographs that I took myself of her, or of us together. I have used a few of mine that Carol has marveled over, as she marvels over much of what I post here.
Loving how simple but complex this is. That a community like Hive has offered what was expected and more.
And how right you are about her comments. They always leave my mind in awe of being understood and feeling relatable!
She has a way with words. With written emotions. To know she goes beyond that only reinforces of how deserving she is of this and more.
Here is to true friendship.
Yes indeed, the only thing that matters is love.
Where have you been woman? I mean, I can see you've been here, but not writing You good?
Good question - how have you been, @tezmel?
We love your writing and when we ask How ya doing, we sincerely wanna know!
(no obligation to tell us )
Hoping all is well - and wishing we could all meet up for a Happy Hour at a fun pub or at the lake house (Lake Owasco!) or even just avatars of us in some cyber hangout. :)
CHEERS!
Aw, thank you - you are all so very kind!!!
I LOVE YOU ALL
This is so beautiful, @CarolKean has to be honored.
Honored, indeed - though that hardly begins to convey it!
Thank you both for so many kind words. :)
How could my admiration for you both be anything but genuine...???
You both write of family (with fab photos!) and your life's labors and passions.
I want to be in that kitchen learning how Stacey does the chef thing,
and even in that fishing boat, cold and wet, day in and day out.
Thank you both for your freewrites and dedication and being fantastic role models!
Happy Easter, the best people are on Hive and I am so happy to know people like you, @owasco, and all of the others.
!ALIVE
@carolkean! You Are Alive so I just staked 0.1 $ALIVE to your account on behalf of @myjob. (1/10)
The tip has been paid for by the We Are Alive Tribe through the earnings on @alive.chat, feel free to swing by our daily chat any time you want.
I hope so!! That was my reason to write this. Many people appreciate her effusive support.
She does have the best replies, very heartfelt.
Yes! Heartfelt and genuine.
It is an emotionally charged message that contains everything that can possibly accumulate in the heart.
An eternal treasure for the recipient (@CarolKean).
Eine emotional aufgeladene Botschaft, die all das beinhaltet, was sich im Herzen ansammeln kann.
Für die Empfängerin (@CarolKean) ein Schatz für die Ewigkeit.
I'm very glad you thought so. She sure is special. Thanks for stopping by!
I'm glad you met this wonderful girl through Hive. Friendship is a treasure. And it is like a tree we must take care. I hope.it keeps growing up. best regards.
Thank you. Hive has been a wonderful place for me.
This is such a beautiful letter to a meaningful person. Hive is a great place to find kinship in strangers and develop long last bonds. We all need that special someone that encourages us to keep moving forward in life and on our blog journey. Have a great week!xox
Yes, Hive has brought me many blessings. Thank you for appreciating my letter to a wonderful friend.
So beautiful 🫶🏻
Thank you!
A fitting tribute to a lovely lady. Hive...where love stories begin:)
We appreciate you taking the time, to either use #ThoughtfulDailyPost, or otherwise help this Community grow. So...
Thank you!!
the text gives inspiration :)
Today I revisited this post, and wow, THANK YOU AGAIN, you really know how to lift me out of the abysss!! I keep lamenting my sins of omission (the good that I fail to do) along with my sins of commission (the many idiotic, thoughtless things that I say or do), but you have reassured me that a lot of the time, I'm actually a nicer, more productive person than I realize.
You are so kind. So thoughtful. And SO TALENTED.
Your many gifts humble me - you're great at math, violin, cooking (a real chef!), gardening, writing (poetry and freewrites), herbal remedies, chicken-raising, acting, improv, and so much more than I can list.
I can never than you enough for this post. Today was a good day to revisit this one!!!
Now, to climb all the way up from the abyss!
OH! How awful that you feel so low! I'm glad I let a bit of brightness in. I remember that you didn't see this one for a while, and I though the I had offended you!
All the way up! Yes, you can. I know you can. And I know, now, that homeopathy could help you, the right kind of homeopathy, there are quite a few.
Homeopathy - yes! My niece whipped up a lovely lotion of shea butter with St. John's wort, from a miraculous field of the golden blossoms which manifested to her when she was in Germany, mourning the loss of her mom and her aunt. It was like the wood betony in Sajah Popham's "Herbal Evolution" book. When you need something, a plant will sense this, and find a way to call your attention to this plant which can heal you.
So I continue to walk the wetlands, woods, and our own Midwest version of the jungle. This is year #24 for me in this little loop, and the path to the river is now impenetrable, unless I'm willing to get scratched by buckthorn, multiflora rose, raspberries, and the branches of many many massive, massive fallen trees (that derecho, four years ago).
I walk that walk, minus Prince, who was bitten by another dog and has undergone five rounds of antibiotics, three sets of staples, a multitude of anti-licking devices (the miserable cone is the only one that's reliable, and he was in it most of 2024).
Focus on what is good: Prince is still alive (but not well), my husband is well, one daughter still loves me, and our son is close to home again (just a 40-minute drive away!), thought it's not gonna last; he will likely return to Mexico (or maybe Brazil) when winter hits, depending on his next job (remote office work). Our middle child continues to forbid us any and all contact with the grandkids. You'd be amazed how many many many "Invisible Grandparents" out there are uniting and sharing coping mechanisms. Write letters you'll never send. Fill up journals for the kids to read when they've grown up and left home. Meanwhile, their birthdays come and go, the holidays, and NO GRANDKIDS. Universally, these parents say they don't know what they said or did that would justify being removed like tumors and cast from the lives of their children.
Just this week, on X, a thread about therapists these days advising young adults to give up on anyone who "traumatizes" them (i.e., makes them uncomfortable):
BartemyS
....How about living life and moving on and dealing with things that are hard.
Maria on X:
Justine Bateman (the actress) started the whole thread on X:
Ok, I'm getting ready to cook Thanksgiving dinner for the six people on the planet who don't think I'm a reject. :) A few others think I'm ok but as we have never met face to face, I tend not to include them in the roster of people who don't hate on Carol. There's a book in here, maybe even a comic strip, but I haven't tried to write it, because, historically, maybe one in a thousand people recognize satire when I try to employ it... my parents and sisters never liked me, but I have a husband who does, so I win!!! They lose!
THANK YOU @owasco for being so loyal and steadfast, such a gallant and generous and TRUE friend. :)
I hope you count me among those who do not hate Carol!
I'm delighted to hear that Miles is so near, if only for another month or so. It's not winter in Iowa yet?
Yes, psychology has done us great harm, has eroded our self-reliance and made us, nearly all, into victims who feel our traumas have nothing to do with our own acts, and are out of our control. That we need government to pass laws protecting our feelings. It's astonishing! The recent, and very sudden, erosion of male and female (way to go women's lib - now that men can be bonifide women, we biological women are nothing) sends this all into surreal, so that being human is at risk, Say no!! To a great many things!!
How old are your grandchildren now? I suppose Claire and Webb will get their own comeuppance someday, when their children will be speaking to you and Tim (yes you got a great hubby!) and not to them. I wonder if they will still blame you, even as their children do to them what they have done to you. It's gonna happen, they have trained your grandchildren how. That this is so common now (I didn't know!) shows that the family unit is being deliberately dismantled, ala Handmaid's Tale and other faves of the leftist zombie mind.
I'm in Nashville. Both daughters and their beaus will be here, along with one of their large (in several meanings of the word large) in-law family, and a couple of friends. It's gonna be close to 20! My Thanksgiving dinners have been very small the past ten years or more, so I'm really looking forward to it.
I love you!!! Happy Turkey day!