When I started writing here seven years ago, I had no expectation that I would connect with anyone. I journaled to hear my own voice because sometimes when you're alone, and very lonely, it's hard to believe that you're not invisible. Over the years, blogging has become more of a conversation---not just comment to comment, but lj to lj. I share my life; others share theirs; we speak, but more importantly, we listen.

Having experienced that validation, it's hard now to go back to hearing just my own voice. There's so much silence---here, yes, but also in most of my communities---and while I try to believe that nothing of condemnation or, worse, indifference, lies in that silence, writing without that listening (me to others and others to me) is a challenge.

I hope the absent members of this virtual space are absent because the years are moving wondrous through their lives. And I think I can get used to writing to hear only myself again, but it may take me a while.