The New Kitchen Table

This is a slightly truncated version, but what is copied is verbatim. For the whole thing, (you are not missing much, just some time sensitive comments) go look it up on my MySpace.

It seems that the world has been run amuck with myspace and youtube and other such sharing sites. These sites have become the new kitchen table.

I remember the kitchen table being the place that the adults sat at to wash away the worries of the day. Laughter and conversation would roll on over cups of coffee until wee hours of the mornings, until one by one everyone went home, went to bed, or otherwise turned in. I can remember the slow transition, from child who played while the adults talked, to adult who sat and talked while the children played. One day there was a word, a sentence, that caught my ear. I would wander in for a moment, chat and explore the conversation for a bit, until it turned away from subjects that could hold my interest. But slowly, I stayed longer. Slowly I stopped standing by the table, and started sitting at it. One day, I had a cup of coffee to keep my place. And today, when I visit, there it is. A different table, sometimes even a different room. But still, a cup of coffee and good company. But how often do we visit each other anymore? Hardly never. The memories of those nights begin to gather dust, but still the need, the want for that company persists. Sometimes it is a CD, specially burned to remember those times. Maybe it is an e-mail. Maybe, it is a website, a place that you can go inside of your own busy schedule where you can, for that second, sit at that table. Because all these websites are so personal. We put out pieces of ourselves not for the masses, as we may think somedays, but for ourselves. Because we know that if we give that little bit, someone else will respond in kind and let us have that moment. That memory. That time to just be together in this busy messed up world.

Welcome to the new kitchen table. There is a fresh cup of coffee waiting for you.