tday_pieHave a small mushy moment with your pie…and go clean out your email. It may do wonders for your soul.

I’m not kidding–that’s what I did this morning, feeling just a tad sorry for myself. So much to do, not enough time, so much uncertainty (you’d think I’d be used to it by now), etc., etc., etc.

In the midst of all that, I noticed that my email was a mess, thousands and thousands of messages just sitting there in my various inboxes, slowing everything down and making stuff very hard to find.

Zipped up to organization mode, starting putting everything into subfolders, deleting the unnecessary…and discovered I have a helluva lot to be thankful for. In the last year I’ve:

  • Received almost constant mentoring from gallery owners, photographers, marketeers, fellow artists (some of whom I’m in awe of and still can’t believe they chat about their work so freely), art groups, glassmaking experts, friends, art critics (and on and on), helping me to develop as a serious artist. (Gee, maybe 2010 is the year I get to stop qualifying “artist” with “serious.”)
  • Made a surprising number of new friends, online and off. I’m constantly amazed at the power of the Web to bring people together…and even more amazed at what happens when you finally meet up with a longtime online buddy.
  • Seen a remarkable outpouring of support for a laid-back cat in need of a home. Thanks to email and this blog, Ernie not only made friends but got help from those friends when he needed it.
  • Met up with one of my first best friends from elementary school, someone I’d lost contact with sometime around the sixth grade. If you ever want a serious headtrip, compare YOUR memories of your childhood with a childhood friend’s.
  • Learned and learned about my first true love, high tech, with help from some great experts in everything from web development to social media marketing.
  • Stayed connected to my beloved cousins Robyn and Jeff, who work in dangerous, nasty places to ensure that I still have a Thanksgiving each year. I may get into spirited debates on the politics of what they do, but they’re putting far more on the line for their beliefs than I ever have. I respect and greatly admire them for that (and probably envy them a tad). Now, thanks to the immediacy of email, web and VoIP, even in an Afghani outpost, I don’t have to worry about whether they’re OK.
  • Been gifted with some truly hilarious videos, images, jokes, etc…usually right when I most needed a laugh.

And a whole bunch more I won’t get into. My email was a sort of personal history, reminding me that I’m connected to a lot more than a computer and a little basement studio. It’s a web in much more than the tech sense, and one I’m very grateful for.

End of mush. Go clean out your email. Eat some pie. And Happy Thanksgiving.