Deep Thinking, but first the news.

Munchkin lost a tooth yesterday. It was rather unexpected. Nothing was loose that I knew of. Certainly not in the morning at tooth brushing time. We hadn't even talked about losing teeth yet (I mean, other than reading The Tooth Book). Apparently he bit into his apple and it got a little loose. And being mamma's little fidget he worried that darn tooth until such a time as he could rip it out. Personally I'm not entirely sure that it was all that ready to come out.

Then he lost it down the sink. He said he was washing his hands and thought the tooth would stay in his hand but didn't. I think he was probably washing the tooth - there was after all a pretty good amount of blood. (Part of why I don't think it was all that ready).

So he left a charming note for the tooth faery explaining his loss and was happy to find "moneys" this morning. (After a somewhat frantic discussion with DH as to the current value of baby teeth on the tooth faery market.)

The previous day had an amusement I forgot to write about too. As I think I've mentioned, munchkin has been chatting up strangers at the pool. We've had several talks about it. So on monday the leaders saw him talking to a young lady, but he told them it was his cousin. Then he went into this bizarre discussion of it being not his cousin Alyssa but his other cousin Alyssa. They were confused and so was DH when he picked him up - mostly because he has only one cousin Alyssa. DH was going to call SIL to find out if it was her, but SIL called first. It was in fact his (one) cousin Alyssa. We are now theorizing that a friend of his out of town cousins has the same name and he was thinking she is his cousing too.

Now for the deep thoughts, or they would be but somehow I've managed to get a killer headache.

Grouse posed the question: are we a community? This is a topic the babe and I have discussed before. So first I went to Silver's diary to see what prompted the question. Personally I'd have to say that we are a community, but not the type that Silver's husband thinks we are.

I have diarys that I read that don't read mine and don't know me. Some of those diaries operate sort of like a newspaper column ( think Uncle Bob ) they write like they expect a bunch of random readers. To them I'm just a reader, one among many. There are strangers diaries that feel like voyeurism. They write in their diary and I read their life and thoughts. They may check mine out or not. Generally though it is their little world with me looking in.

Then there's the diaries of people that either read mine or with whom I have corresponded, by email or guestbook. I feel a bit closer to them. Several I'd love to meet given the opportunity. I've gotten and given advice, I've supported their causes, and even (once) sent money. This is the community Ahriman thinks was in collusion with Silver. He's fundamentally wrong in many ways. These are the people I feel close to because I know about their lives, their wishes, hopes and frustrations. I want to be friends with them, but in many ways I know that they are only potential friends. I couldn't use this forum to cover someone elses ass, or my own for that matter. I can only offer support. I'm not fundamentally a part of other diarists lives. For me this distinction is very clear. Probably because there are diaries I read that are people I know in the flesh.

That's where the fat hits the fire. I have physically met around half the diarists on my favorites list. I know about their lives and the things they do and the places they go. Sometimes they talk about me and sometimes I talk about them, because we share a hobby.

You would think they are my friends. I've discovered, however, that access to the information in their diarys gives an artificial sense of closeness. Many are only my acquaintences. When I spent time with one such diarist at our common pastime, she said "It was nice to finally get a chance to get to know you". And I was taken aback. I read her life nearly every day. I feel like I know her. But I don't really know her or for that matter most of the folks that I read, even the ones that I've met. I am not part of their lives regularly except through this medium.

So it's a strange tightrope. I know more about "strangers" here than I know about many friends. I now have a sort of super-acquaintance. I know how they tick but we aren't quite friends. I know they had a party not 15 minutes away from where I live, but that doesn't mean I was invited. We are more like modern pen pals. Friends over a distance that might be physical and might just be virtual.

So much for deep thinking. Today I learned that going down 12 floors of stairs for a fire alarm is cruel on the knees. I can't even imagine how they managed at the WTC.

TTFN.