Anyone that has associated with me in the past 25 years learns very quickly that I keep odd hours. I’m awake into the wee hours of the morning, and that is the time I want to be social. And it has nothing to do with being inconsiderate, uncaring, or ignorant to the fact my time is not the NORMAL time most people interact.
And, yes, this is a subject I have covered in more than one column. More than one letter. In various poems.
See there are a couple of things that drive me to reach out to a person in the middle of the night.
First: I’m an insomniac.
Second: for some cruel – or kind – joke of fate, I feel the best between the hours of 9:00 at night, to 3:00 in the morning. More creative. More intuitive… philosophical!
Third: maybe the most important factor in this ongoing dilemma of mine, I like to speak to people ALONE! When I am on the phone with someone, I don’t want anyone around. No distractions. I want my attention on that one person I reached out to.
And I don’t reach out very often; or, often enough to the right kind of person.
I will speak with almost anyone. I will listen to almost anything. I will especially listen at night, during my natural time.
In the past few weeks, two friendships have developed. And they have developed during my midnight hours. These two ladies, Ms. J__ & Ms. R__, went to the same high school with me. We friended each other on Facebook, they read my columns, & we Message at night. Both work night shifts. Ms. R__ is close friends with my cousin.
(It is not my place to make the assumption they are a couple. But I hope they are. Ms. R__ is really kind. And I hope she knows how much she has restored a dwindled belief in this 30-odd-something Writer’s mind there are really GOOD people out there. She was also good enough to shoot a little confidence in me. Told me she will buy my first book when it is published, assured me through a message I was a WRITER, & I was more than capable of accomplishing that goal of putting a book out. And I will happily message her a joke at any hour, if it’ll make her day on the clock easier.)
Ms. J__… – she is my dude. We never really knew one another in school, but, man, I feel pretty close to her now.
She is working on her own writing. And I have been demanding words from her. 500-word assignments. And she is not letting me down. She messaged me this morning – 1,200 words! I’m pretty proud. It’s not only the connection we have in the pursuit of writing that keeps me bothering her. I feel as if I can chat with her about pretty much anything.
Not an easy accomplishment to wrangle via online messaging. At least, not for me. I don’t remember what her voice sounded like all those years ago, but my imagination has created one for her as I read her words to me. – It a voice I like reading. And the early-hour rants & jabs we throw at one another is with a pure type of kinship.
Most important thing these two Ladies possess where others be found wanting: My Respect for their decency.
It is no sad state secret the internet is a nest full of people swarming around to feed their jaded sexual desires.
I have been messaged by such.
Ms. R__ & Ms. __J are devoid from that multitude… at least towards me, thank God. A good & solid & honest person found on the internet is as rare as me NOT slipping-up & saying something ridiculous & embarrassing within a 24-hr. period. – And THAT is RARE!
Now, there are others, though, that I check-up on. Some people I have introduced myself to on different Online Writing Communities.
But I don’t keep the same kind of connection.
I guess growing up together has made a difference between me & the Special Cyber Duo, as opposed to blindingly sending off messages to strangers in a desperate attempt at communicating with someone in the middle of the night. Or, maybe where I grew up just produced some fine people?
Notes From the Night Desk 