I am filled with sadness every time I step out my front door.
I look to the right and there on the front porch is an empty bench. The bench on which my neighbour Phillip, spent so many of his days.
For weeks he was looking really unwell.
And then yesterday there was a constant stream of people wearing black coming and going from the house.
I feel sad that a man that I did not really know has died. I have been into his house only twice – once to retrieve a ball my son had kicked over and now today to offer his family my sympathies and take them a cake.
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Behind the front door of this house we never ventured into was a man, his wife and his daughter. People who lived together, loved one another, argued, ate, celebrated and commiserated. People who lived full and proper lives right next to ours and we never even knew them but to say hello.
There are people on Twitter that I have never met, yet my relationships with them are stronger than any relationship I had with my neighbour. If they are not on Twitter for a few days I worry where they are, I know about their kids, and their partners or their quest for kids and partners or their pets or their love of the colour purple and their dreams to write books, their children’s habits and quirks and their own dreams (especially those involving Simon Baker).
Twitter has become my backyard and I really like it there . Always a friendly face and a hysterical tale. The problem is that sometimes I forget to go outside and talk to the “real” people.
So now if you bump into me in the street and I greet you voraciously it’s not just because I think I recognise you from Twitter.
Lana this is so poignant and it rings so true for everyone on Twitter, I think!
This is a really nice post Lana and I know exactly what you mean. Luckily our neighbours are very sociable, so am I lucky enough to enjoy a lovely balance of Twitterville and neighbourly smiles.
You are lucky to have that – and they are lucky to have you
Sorry, I meant to say ‘I am’ not ‘am I’. x
Shitsville. I think that’s what I don’t get. Someone is there, then they aren’t. No second chances. I think we all know why twitter is easier, because when we’ve had enough or have other stuff to do, we simply go and do it. No excuses, no awkward pauses, it’s the neighbourly friendship without the bad bits. X
Exactamundo! xxx
what Bern said – That is all. I got nothing else. (and yet I type on) Why does someone always say what you want to say – but better than you could? That’s why I am mostly a twitter stalker 😉 whenever I think of a tweet someone else has usually already said it.
This is so true. I often wonder what life is like for the people living around us.
But I generally complain about the people living on one side (they go outside, right near my little one’s room, to have their arguments – and there are lots of them), poke a little lighthearted fun at the ones on the other side (he looks like Jim from Jim’s Mowing and they’re a very quiet family who sit around and talk, read and play music together rather than watch telly), and try to avoid the older couple across the road (if they’re outside, I’m not, because I’m worried about getting ‘stuck’ talking to them).
Yet I’ll happily jump on Twitter or Facebook and have a chat.
Sad in some ways.
I would also poke fun at Jim (not that there is anything wrong with him) but in my house if someone got a nickname like that and no amount of shaving or hair dye would ever change that.
Oh and I actively avoid one of the neighbours when I do not have a few spare hours #oldchattylady
I loved this. It is so true. In a world of work-a-holics, Twitter is a virtual neighbourhood mall for stay-at-home-parents and others lucky enough to spend most of their time around the place where they live instead of some tower or warehouse etc. Everywhere I have lived since we moved from my childhood home, everyone has been too busy to make proper friends with their neighbours. Except here now I have 1 lovely lady out of 7 neighbours who would care if we weren’t seen for a few days, LOL. Twitter is not a perfect solution to chats over the fence, but it’s a darn sight better than nothing 🙂
Hear hear. Now if I could get my neighbours to twitter…..
Beautiful post as always. I was just explaining to my real world friend today how supportive and lovely the Twitter community is. I haven’t seen her for ages and hardly ever see real world friends at the moment so Twitter is big part of my life and I do love it. But you are right, I do need to remember that there is a ‘real’ world out there, too.
Thank you. Twitter has been a lifeline for me this last year so I really understand where you are at.
Twitter is just so easy, you can wear your PJs and lay on the couch with your house a mess (as I am doing now), and you never have to call ahead to make plans.
What a prescient post! This is what I have been wrestling with all week. If someone that I *know* on Twitter does not tweet or tweets in a different way I worry. I pester people with DMs until I find out if they are okay. If someone deactivates their account as one friend did this morning I become distraught. As someone very wise told me though there is always a story behind everyone we meet. We should be open to those stories but not take them personally.
Very true, and beautifully written as always. Very timely too as I’ve been thinking this exact thing of late. I have tried to explain to non tweeting friends, and I used to defend my self & my tweeting… now I just say yes, I love it. It is true I too worry if people are not there on twitter… and really, it’s nice to know people are thinking of you. Sometimes the lack of real world meetings makes it easier to say the things that need to be said too.
too true! Sometimes it is much easier to share things when you don’t have to be face to face. Behind the curtain of twitter you can share as much as you are comfortable with and that in itself often makes you feel more comfortable about sharing
I live alone, and I’m single.. So when I jump on twitter I am looking for someone to chat to. Since mum was diagnosed with cancer, I have found support on Twitter. Normally if I’d needed someone to talk to, mum would be that person. With her cancer diagnosis I feel she has enough to deal with let alone having to support me too. Twitter is a place where you can be happy, you can be sad, you can be real.
I haven’t got it jet! I feel I am in a room full of people all talking at the same time, who to follow? and what is the etiquette? it is ok to just barge in (as I have been doing) and just ad to the conversation? or I should just wait to be invited? or we just talk all at the same time ( like in Italy) and somebody might hear me? love ooxx
Oh woolywally you do have it. There is NO etiquette, just talk, relax, read, laugh and learn. Feel free to add to conversations – the best possible way to meet more friends!
Thank you! now I feel better about it!, love ooxx
Lovely!
You are brilliant! xxx
It’s funny, isn’t it? I must admit many of my friends don’t get it (I don’t even tell them much about Twitter – some of them already hassle me about facebook)
I just find I can say things I wouldn’t say anywhere else and I can express myself away from my blog (which is for my interstate relatives.$
There is no where else in the world where I can be totally honest about my mother in law ( except with a few chosen girlfriends after a few
too many wines)