<a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/faces.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-291" title="faces" src="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/faces.jpg" alt="" width="480" height="422" /></a>
<h5 style="padding-left: 360px;">Photo by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/spigoo/">Spigoo</a></h5>
It's been confirmed: My readers are really wonderful, amazing people. I am very happy to be able to call you friends.

Two weeks ago, in the post <a href="http://www.halfwaytonormal.com/?p=282">Becoming (slightly) more than a face in the crowd</a>, I asked you to share something about yourself with me. As <a href="http://www.travelinlocal.com/">LisaNewton</a> wrote "I always try to remember that behind every word written online, there is a face and a person attached to the keyboard typing the words." I wanted those faces and people to come into focus a bit more, and they have.

But I realized you weren't just sharing with me, you were sharing with our little community here on Halfway to Normal. That's incredibly important, when it comes to creating a stronger sense of community and encouraging conversation.

Thirty of you opened yourselves up, just a bit. Now I'm going to tell you what I've learned, and what I really like about you.
<h4>You're quirky, and very much YOU.</h4>
I love quirky details—the things that surprise and confuse and throw us for little loops about people. These are the things that beat back stereotypes and make you exactly who you are. <strong>Anne,</strong> for instance, always manages to burn her hands when she's cooking. <a href="http://www.lorilynh.typepad.com/">Lori-Lyn</a> loves her pug. A LOT. <a href="http://paceandkyeli.com/">Pace</a> is a Dance Dance Revolution champion, and used to hate ducks for no apparent reason. <strong>Mark</strong> loves drinking tea out of the Johnson Brother’s china I inherited from his grandmother. <strong>Gregory</strong> loves taking long road trips alone, as long as he knows friends are waiting at the end of his journey. <a href="http://www.lifewithoutpants.com/">Matt</a> loudly sings "Everywhere" by Michelle Branch every time it comes on, and <a href="http://shelfie.blogspot.com/">Shell</a> doesn't wear makeup.
<h4>You're like me in many ways.</h4>
We all love to meet people we have things in common with. It's a fact. It was fun (although not at all surprising) to discover how much I have in common with so many of you. <a href="http://www.tjhirst.com/">TJ</a> is a Midwesterner who is spiritually tuned-in and writes to understand herself and the world around her. <a href="http://www.lorilynh.typepad.com/">Lori-Lyn</a> is a seeker, and <a href="http://www.howtomatter.com/">Jeb</a> is working hard, every day, to be content exactly where he is, with who he is. <a href="http://compostermom.blogspot.com/">Daisy</a> is a Midwesterner, a mom and a blogger. <strong>Anne</strong> loved <em>The Boxcar Children</em> books as a child, and <a href="http://delightedscribbler.blogspot.com/">Laura Tamayo</a> LOVES coffee—she sees it as much more than just a drink (I completely agree). You're extroverts (<strong>Jonelle</strong>) like me, and music lovers (<strong>Mark</strong>, <strong>Cobalt-Blue</strong> and <strong>ChristinA</strong>), and you write for a living (<a href="http://themoderngal.blogspot.com/">The Modern Gal</a>). You sound just like I feel when you share your love for blogging (<a href="http://modite.com/blog/">Rebecca</a> and <a href="http://www.intersectedblog.com/">Jamie</a>). Some of you even live in my town (<strong>Lorna</strong>, <a href="http://nishachittal.wordpress.com/">Nisha</a> and <strong>Pam</strong>). I see so much of myself in you.
<h4>And yet you're not like me.</h4>
I also love discovering how you're different from me. It makes my world more broad and rich. <strong>Becca</strong>, a dear friend I've known for years, is introverted and feels like she has nothing important to say (she has lots to say, of course, but that's not the point—her response to the world around her is different from mine, and that's a good thing). While I love music, I don't "eat, breath, and sleep music" like <strong>Cobalt-Blue</strong>. While I'm spiritual, my church experience is different from <a href="http://www.tjhirst.com/">TJ</a>'s membership with the LDS.

<a href="http://nishachittal.wordpress.com/">Nisha</a> is extremely restless, <a href="http://themoderngal.blogspot.com/">The Modern Gal</a> is an only child, <a href="http://accountingchick.blogspot.com/">Sarah</a> is a college student, <a href="http://me-unplugged.com/">Stef</a> has lived in a foreign country and is struggling with being unemployed. <a href="http://shelfie.blogspot.com/">Shell</a> lives in Alaska, and <a href="http://cfcl.com/vlb/">Vicki</a> lives in California and has four cats. I've never experienced any of those things. And then there's <strong>Elaine</strong>, who is a cancer survivor who had a bone marrow transplant. She has amazing stories to tell—stories I could never begin to tell, because I can't imagine her experience.
<h4>You're dreamers, and you're trying new things.</h4>
I love not just that you're dreamers, but that you're willing to step out and shared your dreams with the rest of us. That takes a certain amount of guts, and ultimately hope in the future. <a href="http://www.ashleygraceless.com/">Ashley</a> dreams of quitting her job and making a living as a freelancer. I believe she's going to make it happen. <strong>Cobalt-Blue</strong> is branching out from classical music into jazz. <a href="http://blog.lifeconcoctions.com/">Leslie</a> wants to be a life coach some day, and <a href="http://mothershaffer.wordpress.com/">Mothershaffer</a> is throwing herself into her new blog. <a href="http://www.howtomatter.com/">Jeb</a> is simply a dreamer to the core.
<h4>You're willing to be vulnerable.</h4>
This was perhaps my favorite part of the sharing you did. We go through so much of life, day by day, not being real with each other, which makes it harder for us to be real with ourselves. But here, I hope being real feels safe. That seems to be the case for many of you.

<a href="http://www.ashleygraceless.com/">Ashley</a> shared her "fear of not succeeding" as a freelancer, and how that keeps her at her "dayjob feeling bored and confused." <a href="http://delightedscribbler.blogspot.com/">Laura Tamayo</a> admits there are things she <em>wishes</em> she wanted, but doesn't (like being a vegetarian). <a href="http://modite.com/blog/">Rebecca</a> worries that she's "building online relationships at the expense of real ones," and says letting people in is "extra scary." <a href="http://www.intersectedblog.com/">Jamie</a> wonders if she'll ever be successful in her career AND in a relationship.  <strong>Jonelle</strong> says she's "never had a lot of faith in [her] writing ability," and every day she misses her dad, who died 10 years ago. <a href="http://nishachittal.wordpress.com/">Nisha</a>'s feelings about money get her in trouble sometimes, and <strong>Trina</strong> wishes she "would just do it." I feel so much closer to all of you for sharing your hurts and fears.
<h4>Ultimately, you want to be known, and understood.</h4>
<strong>More than anything else, what we share in common, as human beings, is the desire to be heard, and to know we're not alone.</strong> Reading about you just affirmed for me, once again, that we share that basic, human need. <strong>Trina</strong> wrote "I appreciate the chance to be a bit more known by you,â€ and <strong>Vicki</strong> wrote "thanks for asking." I am so very glad I did.

As <strong>Gregory</strong> said, these online connections are about "helping people feel more loved and appreciated, less isolated and misunderstood. And that’s the most human kind of interaction I can imagine, even if it happens through high-tech media and machines.â€