ahhhhhh...*smiles* it's so good to be here with you in this moment...i am truly gracious for all that i have here...this life i lead in paradise...the "who" i've become......and i think it's high time i say what needs saying about my special friends...*huggs*...from my very special cyber retreat...Rob's Place......in a very special time......watch for the sneaker waves and the seagulls... *lol* they'll always get ya when you're not looking....sorta like me...**wink**

ok....*smiles*...got distracted for a sec. where was i?? Hmmmmmmm...the beginning. That's where we should start.

I was totally clueless **lol** cyberwise till the summer of 1996 when i moved here to theOregon Coast. In fact, about the only info i HAD heard about the net revolved around "cybering" and finding one's true love while surfing...all great bits of knowledge *hysterical laughter* picked up from the likes of Rikki Lake and Jerry Springer (can you believe it???)...HA!

So one late late night while following link after link...and yes, i did check out the "other" sites....**wink** i literally fell into what was then known as Cyberville...now Rob's Place. and to this day, i still don't know how i got there...**laughing**

it's getting a bit nipply **grins** and the wind's picked up a bit...**plops down in the sand and leans against some driftwood**...let's just sit awhile and continue, shall we??

Ok....*soft smiles* let's see now...Cyberville...aaaaaahhhhh...that lovely little cyberlounge...was merely days old when i first entered its doors. a strange place of handles and two servers, there were no colors or music or pictures to be noticed...*grinning as i think of the changes* but there were nice people...really nice...and we became a family...tight and closeknit.

now believe what you will *wink*, but i was filled with skepticism when the first "handles" began talking with me...and i called them "handles" at that point cuz "real people" hadn't regisitered in my head yet...i laughed...was shy...**giggles** i swear!!! *laughing* but found myself immeshed in an enigmatic place where i could finally be who I wanted to be...no one's daughter...no one's ex-wife. freedom at last...*soft smiles*...and boy howdy did i make the best of it...*smiles thinking of the earlier times*

i remember fridays the best, i think....*softly giggling* because my weekdays were VERY stressful at the time and fridays...well...*wink* they are best touted as the go-for-broke-and-blow-off-all-the-steam-you-got nights for me...gloriously enticing opportunities to see JUST how far i could go and still...*grins* respect myself in the morning....did i really say that????

hhmmmm.....*shivers, shifts in the sand, and moves closer to you* do you mind my invading your space a bit??? *soft smiles* ...i won't bite...much...*G*

now it was at once strange to me...in a cool and comforting kind of way...that i began very early forging friendship with people from all over the world...i found myself thinking about them...about their lives and what they were doing at any particular time...*plays in the sand with her toes* i even began to add or subtract time from the clock when thinking of my friends...and it was scary...rEAllY scary...for a cynic such as myself to be truly caring about people i'd never met...didn't really THINK about meeting...*sighs*

and then i met Emily...emi...known by most in the ville now as PandorasCharms ...*warm smile* she challenged me one night on a public post i'd made about how opera is a passionate and wonderful experience....*laughing* it rEAlly is...trust me...she became my first "real" person when we talked on the phone in the dead of a summer's night.....*giggling* there i sat on my butt on the floor in my teenytiny bathroom for a couple hours...laughing...crying...beginning to feel again...i was hooked on the chat.

*sips her coffee* Now i don't remember exactly what i was doing the day i bumped into Sandi, but once she logged into my life *smiles* i was never the same...she's been my rock....my shoulder....my truest friend...in her i've found a kindred spirit, and she occupies a very special place in my heart *huggs*