Conversation in the Breakroom

Since I am new at blogging, a novice in looking at pics on shutterfly let alone posting any there yet,still trying to get going with facebook and haven't even considered tweeting on twitter, I find conversations about these things of interest. Seems like everyone has an opinion on why they do or don't partake and what they think is useful or stupid about our modern communication tools.

A recent conversation in the break room at work struck a particular note of interest with me. A group of us got to talking about how we came to be on facebook or myspace and what we thought about the whole craze. It was lively girl chat that included thoughts about blogging and tweets too. The consensus seemed to be that sharing pictures and catching up with long-lost high school or college chums was pretty cool.

However, there was a definite round of scoffing when the conversation turned to "those people" who talk about what they had for lunch or where they were seated while they blogged. Equally disdained by most at the table were the posts and mentions about how the day was spent or the mundane happenings of the week. Vacation news, marriage plans, job changes or new baby updates--in other words those things non-routine were understandably good blog, facebook and tweeter topics.

One co-worker in particular mentioned that she thought it was kind of crazy what people posted and said, "I just don't care for heavens sake, what you got at Starbucks before you came to work or what you are cooking for dinner tonight. I mean really, who cares!" I laughed along with nearly everyone else at the table. Then suddenly, I felt like a guilty fake!

I sat there remembering letters--real letters written on paper, folded around a snapshot or two and tucked in an envelope that had a stamp perhaps picked just special for the intended recipient. Those letters, some of which I still have, were seldom just about the high or low times but rather held all the little, mundane makings of life all the inbetween moments.

After my grandmother died, I was helping to sort through her things. I found letters mixed in with her recipes because she'd used the back to write a tasty little something to try as she listened to the Kitchen Klatter program on the radio. Or she kept the letter because it contained a recipe someone had sent to her thus preserving the letter along with the recipe.

One such letter for my grandmother was from her daughter, Anna Ruth who wrote about the weather in Kansas along with what she fixed for supper the night before. She wrote about my cousin, Linda. It was a letter filled with the every day goings on of my Aunt's life. And without a doubt, her mother, who was miles and miles away cherished every line of that letter when she opened it. Perhaps she waited to read it until she had finished a chore--like working in the garden. Maybe she got a glass of iced tea, her lawn chair and sat under one of those big shade trees on the farm and simply savored every word of that letter about the most basic of basics in life--dinner, weather, errands, children.

Maybe that is what we need to remember as we look at what other people send out into cyber-space. People are sending out little bits of their own life moments. Hopefully, at least some of what they are sending is going to people who do care. To people who know that person and love them. To people who are interested in the mundane little things in their life like the fact that they love Starbucks and get a real kick out of a Mocha Frappacino once in a while! Or that it was just wonderful to have a Red Bull and Snickers for breakfast on the way to work rather than the oatmeal bar and water!

So, to those who love me may I say that I've had a great day. I got my hair done. I had Taco Bell for lunch and on my way home I got a Sheridan's Custard (Peanut Butter and Brownie). I eat half and have saved the other half for later tonight. Yummy! I came home and rented a movie off the TV, TWILIGHT, which is a book my daughter just finished and has given me to read. The windows are all open because it is so amazingly cool and nice outside. I'm getting ready to take my evening walk and I WISH YOU WERE HERE WITH ME!

Among my friends and family we have lately been talking about how life is really about the moments. If we live the moments, we've lived our life. May we care about the little things that go on with each other. May we listen with a heart that is open to those moments and not just the big stuff.