In Search of Dialogue

I envy people who have long-standing e-mail exchanges with friends, relatives, coworkers, whomever. I have sporadic exchanges with all of these groups of people, but nothing as regular as my daily vitamin pill. I can go for weeks (months, years, decades) without hearing from someone and then out of the blue I get a message (or send one). In most cases, we simply pick up where we left off and it isn’t obvious that there has been a big gap.

I guess I am just anxious to talk about real issues – things beyond the latest movie, where I am going on my next vacation, where to get the best sushi in DC, how my children are doing in school – all the things I have talked about to my friends and family for years now. I want to throw out an issue and beat it to death with the equivalent of a conversation that might take place over days. I want to talk about books we both might have read and either loved or hated. I want to dump my heart out to someone when it fills up with too much of any emotion. This is starting to sound like I am looking for an e-mail psychotherapist. But I don’t think it’s really that. I think it’s more that I have spent a lot of time not doing critical thinking and I find that I much prefer it over the MUZAK thoughts that otherwise fill my head. I write in this BLOG almost daily, trying to tempt someone into starting a similar BLOG or at least sending me comments. But so far, only little nibbles.

So how does one find such an e-mail companion? Put out a message on the Internet – Wanted: Smart person who would like to electronically dialog with me on a regular basis. I wonder how many nutcases would answer a want ad like that? I’m not quite desperate enough to find out... not just yet anyway.