My best friend Joy has introduced me to many things over the years; the writings of Mr. Follow Your Bliss himself - Joseph Campbell, the musical styling of feisty songbird Keely Smith and the wonderful world of blogging. So, when she suggested we make a podcast I was on board.
I saw it as a way for us to document our friendship, if only for ourselves. The easy give and take, the deep knowledge of one another that comes from 29 years of laughs, tears and drama encapsulated in digestible snippets of banter. For me it is a win-win situation. I show up at her apartment with a 4-pack of Guinness, get to chat with someone I adore and go to sleep.
Joy is the one who does all the work editing and posting. God bless her! She is getting to be quite the technical whiz.
We decide on a topic (volunteering, how we met, religion, etc.) and off we go. I hadn't planned to blog about our little recordings until we decided to talk about suicide.
The impetus of Joy's blog was to share with others her battle with suicide. She describes her blog by writing;
"This is pretty much just me rambling about how happy I am not to be suicidal any more. Which is pretty big doings for me. It's also an attempt to share my experiences in hopes that it might somehow help someone else who is where I was... and is having trouble believing that you can change your world. Some posts are just silly, some are more deep, but hopefully they all prove the point that life can be, and is, a wonderful thing and no matter how hard things are at the moment: they will get better. You just need to hang on."
Sadly, after we recorded our podcast teenage suicide began making headlines. And as fitting the theme of my blog, which is education, I felt it worthwhile to add our message of support to what others have been providing. Sometimes you don't know what will speak to a person in need.
You can find our podcast here.
5 comments:
Awwww... I kinda love this, even though I got a little choked up. You're my bestie for a reason. I love you! xo
What a great way to share! I love the informal, conversational format. I'm glad I've never been depressed enough to contemplate suicide, but I will now have more compassion for those who try and for those who succeed. The demons must be really bad for them.
I'm sure you are glad Joy is still with us!
Very thoughtful and timely. I hope it gets posted other places since it could save a young life. You two should have a radio show.
Hugs and kisses to you darling Joy!
Barbara - Thanks for listening. Podcasting reminds me of when I used to sing into my tape recorder with my friends growing up. Only now the technology is better. It is fun but feels risky as well. I am so glad that my joy, Joy has found her happy place and continues to brighten my life.
Gregg - Thanks! This is our version of JTTV. Next time you are in NYC you can be a guest on WKYK. I am sure we'll have no problem thinking of a topic.
I'd love to have a long time friend like that...priceless! You're both very fortunate. What a great topic to tackle...suicide....and it really has been in the news a lot lately...sad.
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