Sisters

April 7: Establishing relationships online is not always a bad thing, especially if it’s through a group and you meet because of a common interest.  Three years ago I participated in Brene Brown’s Gifts of Imperfection eCourse.  It was my first experience with an eCourse, with art journaling, using art as therapy, and sharing personal stories with strangers in the online forum that often accompanies online courses.  It was a very satisfying experience and afterwards I joined the Facebook group that formed to keep in touch.  I had no idea until I migrated to Facebook how many people had participated.   There are about 1900 international members.

I was open to continuing with this type of experience so when someone suggested we embark on another project together — Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way — I said sure.  There were 60 in the project, with only 15 or so participating regularly in the online forum.  In other words, a significantly smaller number than Gifts.  The common thread in both courses is personal growth so if you participate you’re likely to get to know your fellow classmates.  You can’t help but become friends in this environment.  Supporting your fellow participants on their journey is part of your journey and for the year that it took us to work through The Artist’s Way we did exactly that.

The course ended and we asked ourselves, what now.  How can you walk away from someone you’ve gotten to know so well, someone who’s still in the middle of their journey?  You can’t.  And we didn’t.

Ten of us migrated once again, this time to a secret Facebook group.  Seven of us are from various parts of the United States.  The other three are international, located in Canada, Australia and South Africa.  Over the past few years we’ve formed a sisterly bond supporting each other through amazing personal growth and significant life transitions including job changes and the loss of family and spouses.  We’ve encouraged each other to take chances and try new things.  A few of us occassionally take other eCourses together.  We formed an accountability group.  We’re constantly introducing each other to new art techniques, classes, philosophies, healing methodologies, new places and our home countries, food, and authors.  And always, we share our art and our stories.

Somewhere along the way a few of us started skyping.  And then we started talking about how awesome it would be to meet each other in person.  And then we started meeting each other in person.

My first sister meet was in September of 2015.  She flew out from the midwest to attend an Elizabeth Gilbert event with me.  Imagine, flying far away from home to meet someone for the very first time.  Even though it’s someone you know well, someone you feel you’ve known much longer than you have, it’s courageous, because you’re never met.  Communication through writing is significantly different than communication in person.  Suddenly you worry about making a good impression and being able to get along and feel comfortable with one another.  All very silly, when you think about it.  We know so much about each other that if we were going to judge we would’ve already done it.  As it turned out, it was very much like meeting an old friend.

This week I met another sister.  Her family was enjoying a spring break vacation a few hours from me and I drove there to meet her.  It was my fifth sister meet and her first.  We were both a little nervous, even about the simple things, like will we recognize one another.  But just like my first meet, it was like meeting an old friend; we fell into a pattern of communication as if visiting an old friend after a long absence.

Part of our day was spent wandering through an Artist’s Village with artists are in residence.  The very first store we visited was filled with beads and bells for building Spirit Totems.  We each created one, selecting two beads the same — Dolphin for friendship and the bird symbol for Wisdom — and then a third that represented our uniqueness.

The Spirit Totem is a fitting memento not just because of our time together, but because of its purpose.  A totem is a many things, including a symbol of a tribe, clan or family.  We built our totems with our online sisters in mind.  The bell is a messenger.  You place your thought, wish, or prayer upon the totem and ring the bell.  Vibrations carrying your wish resonate through the universe.  My wish is to someday meet all my online sisters, even those in the furthest reaches of the world.

So today, finally, I get to write about how grateful I am for my sisters and how grateful I am for the opportunity to meet so many of them in person.