A Mouse Or A Mouse – Critter Or Clicker?

The Era Of The Mouse

Since our backyard butted up against a field, it was a common occurrence to have little critters visit the yard and try to get into our house. Upon seeing a mouse run across the floor, I would jump up onto the nearest piece of furniture and holler for my mother to “do” something. Mom, who was raised in the country, had no problem catching and killing the mouse. If she didn’t catch the mouse, Mom would immediately set a trap and it didn’t take long before we heard the loud =SNAP= of the little trap being tripped. That always brought a smile to my mother’s face because it meant one less critter in the world. Mom just isn’t an animal lover.

Growing up and well into my adulthood, the critter kind of mouse was the only one I had ever known. The computer mouse you are probably holding in your hand now simply didn’t exist in the lives of most people. Things are different now because the computer mouse is probably as well known as the furry critter mouse.

What Is The Big Deal About A Mouse?

Every day I spend most of my waking moments in front of a computer at work and home using a mouse. I’m right handed, so it sits quietly on the right side of my keyboard. When I need to scroll down a page or click on something, I reach over to the right without looking and my hand covers the mouse. Without even a conscious thought, my fingers press on the mouse button to perform every needed task with a click, click, click.

Right now my clicking of the mouse is within a post that I am writing, but at other times I have clicked all over the internet visiting sites of innumerable types. Some of those websites have been social media sites where lots of people come together to share information and simply carry on conversations. People are connecting with people. It’s social. It’s 2012 and meeting people online is just the norm.

I find it very easy to talk to people in real life or on the internet. With a click of the mouse, I can chat with people all over the world on Facebook, Twitter, my community on BlogFrog or here on my blog. Since I put myself “out there” with every blog post I publish, people know me especially if we chat online in all the places I just mentioned. The mundane things in life like doing laundry, cooking, washing dishes or cleaning Turtle’s tank are no longer private after I plaster it across Twitter or write a blog post about it.

All of that information is shared because I click the mouse here and there and there and there.

The Clicks To My Heart

I have accomplished a lot in the past two weeks. During that time, I have been rather solitary. Even Alyssa has been extremely busy and we both just drop into our beds each night exhausted. Today I felt invigorated and accomplished all kinds of things at home that have been left undone because I was trying to get my blog moved over to my new host.

During my cleaning frenzy, I thought about the people I’ve met over the internet during the past few years. I’ve yet to meet any of them face-to-face. I’ve chatted so long with some of the women in my community that it almost feels like we have met each other already. People become best friends via the internet every day while other people fall in love after meeting someone over the internet. All those emotions happen because of caring communication that starts with a mouse click. It is easy to care for someone when they are kind and supportive.

Support…Ahhh, yes. That leads me back to the mouse.

During the past week while I have been deep into my blog, I have re-read posts, comments and emails written by many of you. There has been so much care, concern and love expressed to me while I was going through a terrible time in my life. The mouse would click open an email or blog comment and by the time I finished reading it, tears were streaming down my face. I can’t thank you all enough for all the kind things you have said. I truly appreciate your continued support.

So when your path crosses someone on the internet and your mouse does double time clicking messages back and forth, remember that there is a real person reading what you write. Your words can build them up when they need human interaction and acceptance or rip their heart out of their chest because of the cruelty of your words. In varying degrees, we are all the same in many ways. I think we are just people who eat, sleep, laugh, cry, hope, dream, feel and need other people. That kind of makes me want to start singing like Barbara Streisand…

PeoplePeople who need peopleAre the luckiest people in the world…

Well, “people,” since I wrote the bottom half of this post first (The Rockin’ Friends and Woo Us To Your Blog), I guess I will publish this post now with a click of my mouse.

*click*

Now, the time we have all been anxiously awaiting…This is the weekly post where I spotlight my Rockin’ Friends who are the Top Nine active participants and loyal followers in my community where you will find THE BEST people in the world! If you want to be mentioned here next week, then all it takes is to come in and start chatting with everyone in my community.

With a big, heartfelt thank you for their participation and friendship, here are the Rockin’ Friends this week in order of most participation.

• PJ at PJ’s Prayer Line
• Carol at A Creative Harbor
• Katlupe at Homesteading On The Internet
• Amber Mae at Amber May Be…
• Sue at HouseKaboodle
• Byn at Beans Monkey Business
• Kristi at Child Sensitive Communication Grid
• Paula at Tales & Tastes From The Ol’ World
• Zany at The Zany Housewife

I’m so glad that I’ve been able to become friends with these wonderful people who are so active in my community. I encourage you to add their blogs to your blogroll, but also come over and chat with us in my community.

For everyone mentioned in the top nine this week, feel free to grab the Rockin’ Friend badge below and thank you for your participation!!

<a href=”https://theredheadriter.com/” target=”_blank”><img style=”width: 150px; height: 150px;” border=”0″ alt=”Rockin’ Friends” title=”Rockin’ Friends” src=”http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt308/TheRedHeadRiter/2009%20TEMPLATE/69015f9c.jpg”/></a>
Until next week…Kiss your family, hug your friends and don’t forget to be the friend you would like to have around.

Woo Us To Your Blog

 

As always, attached is the weekly Linky to enter either the main URL to your site or add each post you publish throughout the week. You don’t have to do anything special, just drop your link in and get a little extra exposure to your site.