No Colons from Charlotte:

I think everything I have to say is just about the SW mostly comes from this morning and last night.

Last night....I don't even know how to describe it. I think I had some of the deepest conversations ever with some of my closest friends ever and felt not lonely for the first time in a very long time ever.

I think this workshop, for me, was more of a fellowship and healing time. The sessions and critique groups were both amazing, (Mark made me cry both times) but I feel like they didn't hit like spending time with my best friends and just feeling full, and loved, and cared about, and being able to really care about the people I love.

And the hugs. So many hugs.

I might miss that the most. Just hugging people and being hugged. It makes me think of the Doctor Who episode with the hundreds of people who have never been touched, and how The Doctor heals them all. And they just go around and touch each other, and heal each other, and you can see the sicknesses disappearing.

The SW kind of felt like that to me.

This morning I woke up and realized I'd slept past my alarm and missed saying goodbye to my best friend, which hurt. A lot.

And I was packing, and I realized that I had the song Adrienne and Leinad sang stuck in my head, particularly the, "We'll come back, when it's over. No need to say goodbye," bit. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNsQewlFtEs )

And I just totally broke down.

I feel like this is kind of my workshop theme song this year, and I'm going to start crying every time I listen to it for the next month or two (or six).

But the fabulous thing about OYAN is we can get to our semi colon, and go our separate ways, but we can still reach each other, which is so amazing.

~*~

Then in the car....The Hello Seattle remix started to play. I was half-asleep and just listening to it. For the first minute and thirty seconds it's a very slow, kind of a happy/sad thing that gives me feels whenever I listen to it. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ7OIZONwl8 )

But then....then it switches to happiness and makes me feel motivated.

And I was thinking about how that point in the middle is the semi colon that Beecheerful talked about. The beginning of the song was this morning. The second part is the rest of the year.

Now I have to go out into the world and use this time of healing to give to others.

And I've decided that I need to end my life with an exclamation point rather than a period, or the semi colon.

Thank you guys. I love you all too much.

~Charlotte Anderson