Seven Months in Noir

On September 13 I took my 7th renewal as a Lite Platimum member Over the last 6 months I have ogtten to know to one extent or another all of NOIR staff, and many of the members. RLC being a reflection of RL, some of us have developed great chemistry, others not so much... that is just the nature of humanity, there is no good or bad in it. There are time zone differences to contend with, language differences to contend with.. it is what it is. For me what NOIR is? My happy place. In real life I did not have a big family... when I got older the bars became my family..and wooho the stories I could tell about that bunch!. In NOIR.. my family of some lovely and exceptional people, women and men. A question that is asked is what does a member get for joining NOIR? For me, the correect answer is not the obvious one. What I recived.... tangible, and in hand.. has been the opoortunity to connect with some wonderful people, and a number of cases establish relationships that are not anywhere close to shallow or superficial. The odds of me ever being in the same room as any of staff is at best 100,000 to 1, For thise who think that this should make much difference, read the correspondence of John and Abigalil Adamsn, or that of British poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Many have heard me say that there are 2 rules in RLC. Number 1 is Real Life Comes First. Number 2 is Be Who You Are. RLC gives us the opportunity to Be Who You Are... that is to be whe we aspire to be, to "reinvent" ourselves or in some case "recover" ourselves. For me and others, NOIR provides the venue and and a merry band of accomp;ices who are all on similar journeys. Dear friends and lovers, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you, I hold you dear in my heart and wish nothing but the best for all of you.