Friday5: Why I blog.

1. How long have you been blogging?
2. Do you remember what first got you into blogging?
3. Have you ever met anyone in person from blogging, internet dating...etc?
4. Do you blog everyday, or just once in a while?
5. Show us something blog worthy.

Friday5

I have been blogging since October 1st, 2004. That's when RPM was born (on blogger). It's been a friendly addiction since then of daily (mostly) rambles. My sister had been at it for awhile in a few different places, Livejournal and some other more small, eclectic sites, but the catalyst for my beginning was my friend, Eric.

Eric began his blog shortly after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in August of 2004. We worked together for five years at a recruitment advertising agency in Center City Philadelphia for about five years before he left for other professional pursuits. We kept in touch, and I learned of his cancer possibly two years after he left the agency. Eric decided to use blogging as his means to keep his friends, and anyone else that might be curious, updated on his condition. But also, let people look through a window of his soul. And so his blogging history began.

At the time I began blogging, I was heavily immersed in my love affair that began over the internet. I was trying to sort out what my next step in that experience was. We were loving over 2,500 miles of distance and I was beginning to grow anxious about where we were headed and what it all meant. Eric and I used to email back and forth about life, love and sorting it all out. There was a special kinship between us because we both grew up as chubby, awkward social nitwits with vast imaginations, agile brains and a complete inability to relate to the world around us. For some reason, his hovel felt as warm and safe as mine. And we shared many thoughts, because it was always safe to do so.

When the cancer reared its head, Eric stunned me with his balance, his wisdom and his poise. He talked about it...but it never defined him. He educated, but never became a walking martyr or billboard regarding the disease. He didn't expect you to walk around him with your head hung low. He expected you to talk to him about the same stuff you always brought to a casual conversation with him. His humor, his amazing way of putting things in perspective, remained. He kept his eye on me, peeking in to remind me that there was a world outside my hovel, waiting for me to introduce myself. He shoved me to pursue Austin, even though I had no idea what was to come. He inspired me not to waste on moment and to explore every event, every moment with depth and courage. To find the sweetness in the darkest sorrows, because it's always hiding somewhere. And when he began blogging, he prodded me to blog, also.

"What will I write about?"

"Whatever you think about. Whatever you want to."

I shrunk into my space a little deeper. "No one will want to hear what I have to say."

"The world, has been waiting to hear what you have to say. Whether that world is a million people...or two. You write all the time. How about turning a little light on it."

I thought I had to have something significant...like cancer...to talk about. As I read Eric's blogs, I found that his most memorable posts...rarely touched on the cancer. Then I realized his point. Everything is relevant. To someone. For some reason. Who are we to discard random thoughts as forgettable?

Eric passed away on March 19th, 2005. He was thirty-three years old. He possessed a wisdom that I still can only dream of. A tenderness that still melts away any cruelty this world has to offer. He was the person you regarded with great frustration and asked, "why HIM? Of all the people in the world." He was a teacher, a husband, a sage, a comic and a friend. And I remember him and carry him with me, always. I blog, because he inspired it. And those of us who knew him, know the best way to remember him, is to honor the gifts he felt each of us possessed.

What's blogworthy?

Eric Chesna. One of the blogworthiest topics I'll ever know.

Eric

1 comment