Twitter Memories

Things are changing at Twitter.

Twitter reminds me of my high school days. Those days when I made friends easily, friends so close they felt like family. I look back at those days with nostalgia and think about how hard it has been to create a community in this modern day and age.

I have lived in the Bay Area since 1993 and never really felt like I had a local community until 2009 when the first Marin TweetUp happened. Before then, I never felt like I fit in. I had not found my people. I had some good friends but not a community.

Twitter – as a communication tool opened up a whole new world to me. Being a 50/50 Introvert/Extrovert on the Myers Briggs (and every other personality test I have ever taken), Twitter provided me the perfect opportunity to put myself out in the word and the ability to connect with others in a meaningful way without physically exhausting me.

I met so many incredible people via Twitter and learned so much from the discussions we had on Twitter.

The people I met on Twitter who I fondly called the Tweeps became an important support network. On my 40th birthday (12 years ago) my house was full of tweeps welcoming me into my 40s and dancing the night away.

After I had major surgery, tweeps showed up with food, gifts, love, and visits.

We helped each other through challenging parenting moments, break-ups, losses and more.

Seven years ago I put out on Twitter that I was looking for a job in Marin County, I was tired of commuting to San Francisco and Oakland. A tweep came through and introduced me to Beyond Differences where I spent the last 6 years of my life in an incredible organization. And, all the tweeps were there with me during my morning commutes to San Francisco and Oakland. You kept me company during those early morning #onthebus rides.

I have met up with fellow tweeps all around the world from Italy to New York. We the Tweeps, went on adventures together from Pt. Reyes to taking the ferry to SF, to taking a tour of the Farmer’s Market and learning the history behind it.

There are so many incredible memories I have thanks to the folks I met on Twitter from rollerskating to massages, walks and talks with so many of you, art dates, my mastermind group, the day the Tweeps came together to help Diane and Ken move out of their home into a new home.

The original TweetUps and all the brave souls who showed up to them. Pacific Catch for being so welcoming to our wacky group of Twitter people. So, so many TweetUps where we ate good food, drank wine and got to know each other better.

As I write this, each one of you is popping into my head along with the memories of the first time we met in real life. There are too many memories and amazing people to list here but I invite you to leave a comment below sharing a Twitter memory you have.

I can’t help but think of our dear friend and fellow tweep Suzanna who we met via Twitter. I miss Suzanna’s positive light in this world. She always encouraged me to write more and create more art. She always took the time to comment on my blog posts. She always reminded me to look for the magic in the ordinary. She always showed up for me and gave me the gift of talking with me daily during the last year of her life. Twitter thank you for bringing Suzanna into our lives.

Long live Marin’s Twitterati and #LaundryChat with or without Twitter.

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