Lessons from Life

I just found out that MyOpera picked me for Member of the Week. (The hyperlink button isn't working at the moment, so here's a direct link to the Community News page: http://my.opera.com/community/blog/2012/06/22/member-of-the-week .)

This is such a nice thing for them to do, and I really, really did not expect it. Thank you to whomever it was that nominated me, and to those who voiced their support by vote, or however the selection is made.

When I have looked at the blogs and photo albums of those who were chosen for this recognition before me (and very many who have not been chosen yet), it has been such an incredible experience to see the talents of the photographers, painters, and writers who inhabit this community. To read their stories, see their lives, their communities, their countries, and get to know their families, has had a profound influence on the way I see and think about things. The horizons of my heart and mind, if nothing else, have been stretched so far beyond what I would ever have believed possible. And I've found friends around the world that I would not have found anywhere else, or in any other way.

Thank you for including me in that company, and welcoming me here. I am truly humbled.