request an invitation...

hello sunday. have you heard of cowbird? friends, i think it's going to change my life. read this first (please) and then go to the site... big red shared the article with me, and bless that woman. she sure did make me and knows exactly how to send me. you know?

i am currently in the process of requesting an invitation to join the site. the prompt is this... a bit about you and your stories... i'm having a bit of anxiety about it. because storytelling is so important to me. especially in 2012. the idea of humanizing the web (from the article) is so profound and so poignant. but, i might go as far as to say that we need to humanize humans/human nature/life/our current existence. you know? with everything at our fingertips, at the touch of a button, the click of a mouse, we have lost so much of our ability to connect with other humans.

i remember worrying about this thought the first time i went to the airport and the automated kiosk took the place of the actual human. and at the grocery store's self check-out line. i have trouble with these things. i worry that my someday children will grow up in a world in which it is completely plausible to make it through an entire day without approaching another human. terrifying.

my first memory of being a story teller is from heart's bend, a summer camp i went to in newfane, vermont for two summers... 1991 and 1992. georgia, one of the counselors, and i were on a walk to grout's pond with a small group of campers. i, of course, was whining about the distance of the walk and probably crying a little about missing my mom. she began to tell me a story about a girl with the longest hair she'd ever seen. she wove the story for a few minutes and stopped. ok laylsie, your turn. tell me what happens next. i couldn't believe it. the honor of taking this story wherever i wanted was beyond my comprehension. but, i flew... told my story, and passed it back to her. we continued all the way to grout's pond, and even while we swam... along the walk back to camp, during dinner... and didn't stop until i fell asleep under the lean-to. (we continued that story all summer)

i realize now what georgia gave me. the ability to find safety, solace, joy, comfort and reassurance. not just in from inside my own head, but through an honest and thoughtful interaction with another human being. because telling a story requires that you witness life. that you listen to other humans. respond to them. i love this part. don't you?

maybe it's because 2012 sounds like a fake year to me. or maybe it's because i'm turning 30 this year. or maybe it's just who and how i am... but i'm so... emotional. maybe that's not the best description. but, i feel like i need to hold on to everything that i love so tightly. so that it will never go away.

but, even if it does go away, i'll have a story about it... always.

pics from here and here. i adore you. you are my favorite.