Dear Friend,

I’ve decided to start all of my posts with the greeting, “Dear Friend”. I got the idea when writing a very special and dear friend and found that I wrote more from my heart, and that is what I want to do with you, my new dear friends. While we may have never met, I do hope that we become friends in this journey together.

It reminds me of a quote from the movie, You’ve Got Mail:

“I like to start my notes to you as if we’re already in the middle of a conversation. I pretend that we’re the oldest and dearest friends- as opposed to what we actually are- people who don’t know each other’s names and met in a chat room where we both claimed we’d never been before. What will NY152 say today, I wonder. I turn on my computer, I wait impatiently as it boots up. I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You’ve got mail. I hear nothing, not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beat of my own heart. I have mail. From you.”

I’ve given this a lot of thought as I begin writing my book. And I want it to feel like we have sat down in a coffee shop, in big comfy chairs, with a cup of our favorite coffees and are having a conversation as old and dear friends. Because whatever else it is, it ought to begin with personal.

Another quote from the movie, “You’ve Got Mail”:

JOE: It wasn’t personal —

KATHLEEN: — It was business. What is that supposed to mean? I am so sick of that. All it means is it’s not personal to you, but it’s personal to me, it’s personal to a lot of people. (she shrugs helplessly) What’s wrong with personal anyway?

JOE: Nothing.

KATHLEEN: I mean, whatever else anything is, it ought to begin by being personal.

Because whatever else it is, it ought to begin with personal. Until next time, dear friend.

~Topaz