I've given a lot of thought to message boards and the roles they have played in my life. When we first moved to Florida after our retirement five years ago, we didn't know anyone but our family. We had both been use to having our large circle of friends close by and always ready to have adventures. Now, we were pretty much on our own.
The biggest link we had to our friends in St. Louis was the internet. And this became our link to new friends as well. I had been so use to attending crops either after school or on a Sat. with girfriends that the loss of this really hit me hard. On line, I discovered a whole cyber world of scrappers and virtual crops available everywhere. I was saved.
One of the first mbs with which I made contact was the ckmb. It was through this mb that I met and became friends with Petra (my kemosabe) and Moni. Who knew at the time that we would exchange several visits irl, and crop over the internet with our web cams and mikes...wonders never cease.
What a joy these two have been in both my honey's and my life. The highlight has to have been attending CKU and our dorm placing 2nd overall. What a blast that was. Janet and Anne , I still laugh at the pics of you with Hank, our own Cabana Boy. Kath we missed you. and the Kipster was not even on the mb then nor had I met our MerMaid BBTH.
Although I have parted ways with ckmb for a variety of reasons, I shall be always thankful to it for providing me with so many wonderful friendships. And the Early Birds....you guys all rock! I miss you. Maybe I'll surprise you all some early morn, who knows. Stranger things have happened, right?
10 comments:
Jules--
What a great post!
I have been a message board dork for many years. My first real experience was with a wedding planning board right after Randy and I were engaged, 8 years ago. (Long story why we are still engaged, but that's for another time. LOL) I belonged to that board for over 6 years and met a couple of my friends IRL as well.
When I found the CK board I was a brand new scrapper with only about 5-6 months under my belt and quickly came to love it there. I made so many friends and do miss the way it used to be. We just never really know how different things will be tomorrow or next week, much less months or a year from now, but I feel that if we don't make changes in our lives, God sort of gives us a little shove sometimes to get us moving away from things that maybe have become too familiar. It's all for the better, though, if it's God's plan! He doesn't make mistakes, so whatever the road ahead holds in store will be wonderful if we merely accept it an cherish what He has given us.
One example I would like to point out is that you and I never really chatted or emailed or even posted much to each other when we were both on CK, but look now at what great friends we have become having both made just simple little changes in our lives. Isn't life wonderful!?
Thanks for being my friend. :)
HUGS
Shar
HI Jules
I hope you'll add me some day to your blog link and we dont loose touch cuase I dont know how else we will keep in touch. We are all well here in New Jersey. I am sooo far behind in scrapbooking with work, but I like work!!! Hey, I posted a post the other day because people were getting so SPECIFIC about scraplifting I thought it was getting ridiculous and I posted just kidding around and I think Ruth thought I was being disrispectful to you and I wasent Jules, I was just kidding around Jules, I wouldnt do that!!!! I have been scraplifting all my work from magazines and these people just PISS ME OFF!! FOr CHRIST SAKE, we cant even say SHIT on our blogs and people go berserk. Ok?? I was just kidding for my pleasure, not tryin gto upset you or anything ok?! ANyway, can you get Kip to put my link on your blog list if you want? Lun ya lots, I hope you still want to keep in touch with me?! janet
It is amazing how important the MBs have become in my life too. I only really do the Ebs on CKMB now because not really anyone I know posts at any other time but I guess MBs evolve over time anyway. As for Miss Janet she was just very naughty and poking fun at the CKMB and why not but I did think it was time to let sleeping dogs lie. No more controversy, we all want to leave it far behind. Now what about your next BOM challenge being about CKMB or other MB friendships or just what it means to have cyber friends. I am sure you could make that idea more eloquent. I have finally joined an Australian MB and may finally make some friends I can meet up with. Now that would be nice. Still the US is still on my agenda and I still hope Miss Clare will come over around Sept or Oct - yippee for me.
I can say I for one would be very pleased at a surprise visit one morning! I hope it's not one of the mornings I sleep in! The CKMB is the first message board I ever became involved with and really the only one I frequent regularly. I found it when I had first signed up for CKU-WDW in 2003, just about a year after I started scrapping and I've always been so grateful for the world of friendships that opened up to me there. Now with so many having the blogs that gives another venue to keep in touch. And meeting people IRL! That's the best! It always seems to me that when we meet it's like meeting old friends, even we have previously only met in "cyber-space".
Pam
Jules-
I haven't been a message boarder for very long-6 months maybe. Although I have been a scrapper for a few years, none of my friends enjoy my passion.
When I came to CKMB, you were one of the girls who inspired me. I just wanted to say you are missed!
I will continue to read your postings, stay in touch.
A fellow Floridian,
:Jayne
Yeah, the internet is a great tool for keeping friendships up to date and making new ones.
I, too, can attest to the wonders of what can happen through MB's. When I found the CKMB I was in a major transition in my life. I had broken my engagement, left my job, was in a new house, and without most of the friends that had been part of my life during the previous years. It was a dreary time. The friends I made on the MB were my lifeline. Even though life is better, it is still in transition (and looks to be, for a while!), and I grieve the loss of the MB world that had become my daily "safe place," and my anchor. Much as I recognize and appreciate the value of change, I've had a lot of losses, and I'm not fond of the frequency with which they seem to repeat in my life. But...
Thank goodness for gumption and the willingness of the Early Birds and Cabana Crew to extend their arms to me, and to make the effort to get together and build on our cyber-friendships. They mean the world to me, and are a source of more joy than people can imagine. Thank you, Jules, for your part in sustaining and nurturing me, and for being a part of that joy.
Can't wait for the next visit!
xoxo
Jules,
You and Shar replied to my first post on the CKMB. I had lurked for quite a while before I finally got up the nerve to post. You see, I had never posted on a MB before. I had been scrapbooking for several years and I can't really remember how I found the board to begin with. But, soon after I began posting, I had a serious surgery and was away for quite some time. Not long after I returned to the board, Shar was banned. Then, it seemed as if so many people were unhappy, controversy arose, more people were banned and I just stopped posting. I did go back to lurk because I so enjoyed looking at the work of some of the members and, I learned SO much. I also missed reading what was going on in the lives of the people I had become to enjoy. I kept up with Shar via email. When she started the Monkey Board and so many of the people I had SOOO enjoyed on the CKMB began to post there, well, I felt like I had come home.
MB's certainly fill a need for so many people. I agree with Shar. Change "happens"! We just need to embrace it, be thankful for it, and make it a POSITIVE change.
I appreciate all I have learned from you--I bet you have no idea how many people you have touched. I found Kip's blog thru YOUR blog and, I visit there and enjoy it everyday. I guess you could say that you cause a kind of chain reaction! This little old girl from KY feels the warmth of Paradise everyday because of you. That's a good thing.
Mae
Such a good blog entry Jules. I think I just learned something. (thanks nanna) LOL I have been chatting at CK for many years, I feel very "loyal" to the mb and many of it's members. As we have embarked on the Monkey girls I have felt this sense of betrayal to CKMB and it has been hard to deal with. I feel like I cannot chat back and forth without somehow stepping on one or the other's toes. WHY is that? I think because CKMB is the "Mother board" (ha ha) to me...home, original whatever. I feel like I "owe" it something. However, I am finding more and more I can be MYSELF at Monkey and I enjoy that a lot. I am not editing my words, locking my lips, biting my tongue, I say what I want/mean and it is OK TO DO! I guess I am cutting the cord per say with CKMB? Is that a safe way to put it? LOL I will still peek in to do some laundry (he he) but it is time to move into my own place ifkwim? HUGS to the Monkey girls!!!!!!!!!
Hi Jules,
I agree, this is a great post and echos much in my life, too. Eight years ago I had hardly ever gotten on a computer. Then after my son died, my DH and I got very involved with a civic cause, actually we started it, and it suddenly became a nessessity. Two and a half years ago we made a major move and it was my link to my friends and the life I left behind. The CKMB is also the first mb I ever went to on a regular basis and who ever thought 8 years ago I would have a blog? I also never thought I would have cyber friends! But its been wonderful and opened a whole new world to me.
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