Well, since joining--in itself something I 'didn't do'--this forum has not only provided a place to bounce ideas and get encouragement, but a place where I'd get told to stuff it when going off the deep end. My blowups on here have been rare and brief but memorable>>>>but memorable as well was the kindness afterwards. The scene by scene and elements helped to get my mind working again, scary though that may sound LOL. The 'risk taking' involved with meeting complete strangers made me more stable as a man, more confident. For the first time in a very long while I began exploring, began opening up again. There is a lot to do still, but Cellardwellar's saying>>>I'm not where I want to be but at least I'm not where I USED to be---says it all. For every annoying person here, there are 30 lovely human beings whose presence negates the annoyance. The awesome example set by people like Chuck, jack, royandronnie, JeffWrangler, FrontRanger, Adam, Rodney, WLAjoe, desertrat, CSI, Jackie, Heidi and Carol, Linda, Marian, The Truly Humbling Tellyouwhat--and so many others---made me into what I hope is a better man.
The feeling felt after viewing BBM the first time has never left me, and this place provided a refuge and boost, a place to connect....to "work it through".
The love, caution, encouragement, and yes the AGGRAVATION and occasional rage extended by and to and with this forum's people helped me to re-connect with life. They--YOU--helped give me the guts to re-connect with my exBF after FOUR F'ING YEARS. The example and guts of so many of you helped very very much in understanding the lessons of Brokeback.
The Forum helped me to not" do an Ennis", helped me to say I Love You to a woman I'd fallen for when we were both 19, a woman who is now my wife. It helped me stand tall and ask for her after 30 years of saying Let BE, after 15 years of trying to be the father to her beautiful boy, whose biofather "couldn't be bothered". Members, no, FRIENDS here helped me get engaged with STYLE, hat over my heart in front of half of Wyoming. Later, those fiends helped me to get married w/o losing my mind.
The Forum led me to re-connect with Manhattan. It actually got me to MOVE to Denver and the Front Range, which made my wife's family know I meant business! Now, I can't say I've ever LOVED either Metro-Denver OR the Front Range but had always thought them 'OK'....yet over the past 2 years I have learned to LOATHE Metro- Denver and the Front Range along with the whole state of Colorado [lolololololol]. So that one is a bit of a mixed blessing.....but Wyoming is 90 miles away......while the Apple is usually but not always 129 bucks each way on JetBlue. Like I said, that one is a mixed blessing.....but it gave and daily gives Katrina the knowledge that her husband Loves HER Enough to settle here even when he whispers And let's get the hell out when the real estate market recovers, OK honey???!!!
We are downtown. It could be MUCH worse: we could be in the
BURBS!!! Or even worse....not together at all, her lonely in Denver, me lonely in Brooklyn.
Being on the forum definately helped get me to write again. Yes, I attribute THAT to this Forum's Tellyouwhat, to my wife's unwavering support, attribute as well to my son's wild enthusiasm after reading a few things. On that one give credit where it's due, to Amy's
Shades of Grey, to a notice on TDS which sent some of us to Casper, to--again--Ellen's simple to hell with it: Let's Go. And there I met the Denver Brokies, there a group of us directly met the awesome Miss Proulx; never underestimate the EXAMPLE of an awesome writer who can laugh and doesn't mince words!
The forum provided a place for the human interaction which aided and helped with all the above. Change though it has, and in some ways not for the better, let's give also give gratitude where it's due, too.