Kindred Spirit - Martie Coetser
LXXIX.
I'm taking this way of saying "Thank you, Martie!" to a wonderful fellow Hubber and dear friend. Our cyber mother-daughter relationship has grown over the 13 or so months since we met on Hubpages.
We shared Hub friends and many wonderful discussions about life and all it involves. We discovered experiences shared in common and so we shared our impressions and lessons learned from them.
An amazing 'mother-daughter' relationship just evolved naturally.
Glancing back over some of our earliest hubs and the comments we shared is like a lovely horse-drawn carriage ride through the park of memory. I can see how the mutual respect and love grew ~ and is still growing.
Who knew that in late life, I'd have a beautiful new daughter in South Africa? Is Hubpages magic or what?
One thing I noticed early-on about Martie was her kindness in recognizing others. One of her earlier hubs listed 33 of her Favorite Hubbers and why they were her favorites! Such generosity is typical!
Another thing I couldn't help but notice is her fierce passion, loyalty and conviction to what she espouses. She is a strong woman with a very large heart and her words are always worth reading.
Still, it totally surprised and completely disarmed and delighted me when just a day or so ago, she published a whole hub for me, her 'Cyber Mama'. It is truly one of the most unforgettably lovely tributes I've ever received. She has known that I wrongfully lost my own daughter for a time nearly 40 years ago and that my son is still estranged. So It is all the more gratifying to have a wonderful cyber-daughter with whom to share so many of our individual experiences and thoughts about life. Thank you, Martie, my dear cyber daughter!
The link to her hub is included next. I invite you to visit it, just to see what a dear person she is!
Then, Martie - I'd like to dedicate some of my heart-felt poetry to you and to our friendship and kinship!
Martie's Hub
- Mother (a poem inspired by Nellieanne H. Hay)
A gracious tribute by a gracious friend and my cyber-daughter
Know that you are loved and cherished like my real daughter, Martie!
KIN
You are
An incomparable sweetness
And one of the most
Human
Beings
I have ever known.
I'm proud to emulate
And proud to be
Your friend.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
I don't always know
As much as I should,
As much as
I wish I would.
But of the thngs
That I know,
I know which is good!
You!
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
THE WEB
Silken strands,
Filaments
Interlaced loosely,
Sunburst-patterned,
Networking space
To partition void from void,
And capture nourishment.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Lost Summer
This poem was originally destroyed - deliberately burned - in summer, 1971. These fragments, from memory, were restored, in summer, 1973. All of them which had been burned were not restored, however; but I was.
Through conditions constraining it,
I love you unconditionally;
Beyond reservations restraining it.
I love you
Unreservedly,
Unconstrained,
Unrestrained ~
Durationally ~ infinite.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay--
Everything's the same,
Ordinary, ~
Except it's
Floating above the ground,
Free of gravity.
______© Nellieanna H. Hay
Comments
What a lovely relationship. I admire both of you and wish your relationship will be there forever.
Thank you very much for sharing this awesome hub and showing people that relationships know no boundaries and limits.
My dear, Nellieanna, I am so surprise to see this heartwarming hub still alive, and pinching myself because I've missed sligobay's comment. I feel like emphasizing one of his sentences, because I agree wholeheartedly ~ "What is not real about cyberspace? Only the corpus is absent which frees the heart, soul and mind..." We are indeed spirits in cyberspace, though spirits with thoughts and feelings. Thanks again, my lovely CM, for this awesome hub - it is like a crown I love to wear :)
@ Break of Dawn, Sannel, you, too, are one of my most beautiful online friends. I love your warm, compassionate heart, your kind, loving, generous and oh so patient and determined soul and, of course, your brilliant mind. Thank you so much for your touching comment. Although we don't interact on a daily basis - how could we in this enormous city, Hubville, with so many friends to read - I am ALWAYS aware of you. I will be one of the first to look for you whenever you become too scarce. Hugs to you, Sannel :)
Nellieanna what a heartfelt and beautiful tribute to your cyber daughter and dear friend. Martie is such a genuine, compassionate and a very beautiful lady. She definitely stands out in a crowd with her stunning personality and kindness. You two are such sweet, kindred spirits and you are so blessed having found each other. Internet sometimes brings us such wonderful people into our lives. With their kindness and thoughtfulness they make our lives so much richer. Hopefully the friendship and bond formed between two people on the Internet will last forever, even though they never meet face to face. Thank you for sharing the love you have for Martie with us in this sweet and very beautiful hub.
My New Years Eve has been lit up by a pair of the brightest SPARKLERS in this Hub World of ours. This Hub is a fine tribute to the special relationships found and grown in cyberspace, and to Martie, in particular. My only experience is within this community of readers and writers. I don't know if it exists elsewhere.
I am delighted for both of you to value and relish your maternal relationship. I have read and reread every word of every comment as well. Though My work and life have separated me from continuous participation at Hub Pages this year, I feel that this Hub has preserved some essence of the emotional events which have transpired among my many valued Hub friends. I loved the many poems written and the stories related by the comments. "In Real Life" abbreviated by the acronym IRL funnily mimics the abbreviation for IRELAND displayed on many autos in my neck of the world. What is not real about cyberspace? Only the corpus is absent which frees the heart, soul and mind as noted by the spirits in the afterlife. This disembodiment trivializes the little green button which your older sister gave so much power. Your conversation invites all of us into the intimacy which you have both sewn and grown. Best wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous and blessed New Year and 2012 to cyber mother/daughter... sister/sister... brother/sister... mother/son... brother/brother... father/son... mother/father... husban/wife... friend/friend and every other virtual relationship ...rising from the spirit of truth, trust and art. ALL THE BEST TO ALL.
This is just sweet as honey, no even sweeter! I just discovered Martie tonight. I'm looking forward to following the both of you now. I can feel the love and admiration between the both of you. UP/AWESOME/BEAUTIFUL
Nellieanne, I am laughing my head off, seeing you with the eye of my mind with that surprise of an incense stick. Hahaha! And oh yes, that's me. I even surprise myself, handling a situation so often in a way I did not even dream I would be able to. Running myself to a spacious place where I cannot damage precious people and goods. Ohhhh, thanks for a great laugh at quarter to one in the middle of the night :)))
Nellieanne, I want to thank you and all hubbers in here for the lovely comments about me. I'm without words and breath, as if you are touching the most sensitive part of my soul. As if the merest move I make could be fatal.
I know my shortcomings and bad characteristics (like impatience with annoyances, a too short temper and a tendency to fight instead of turning my back on whoever provoke my anger, and many-many more) - I am actually always too aware of the badness in me, always trying to be a better me. I'm my own rudest critic and enemy and hardly able to see any good in myself. And then, when I find myself suddenly among people who do see the good in me, the strangest sadness overwhelms me. As if I am a poor orphan waiting to be adopted. Oh, and I can go on and analyse my emotions... just to realize that I'm not supposed to be so hard on myself. Thanks so much for emphasizing the good in me. I feel honored :)))
This is a well deserved tribute to one of the best hubbers, a gem of a lady and a dear friend. Acknowledging others is a sign of spiritual generosity that should find its way on HP more often
This is amazing. Two people both with such wonderful heart and able to give so much met through the hub. It really increases my belief in mankind that there are still loving people out there. My best wishes to you both and may your happiness with each other never end.
Nellianna,
It is my honor to meet you, especially on this particular piece. I have become dear friends with Martie and, as such, feel very close to you. I lost my dear Mom (my best friend) last May and there is nothing quite as special as that relationship, in my opinion.
Hoping to read much more of your work and wisdom in the days to come. Have a wondrous day, mar.
My dearest Nellieanne, so true, sometimes we do not agree about something – typical mother and daughter, but please know, I am rapidly growing up to the stage of ‘living a life of quiet contemplation and joy.”
I love your comments. I learn a lot. As I’ve said, for me you are a role model. One day I want to be like you :))))) Of course I will never be, but the example you’ve set will keep me in line.
I’m sure many out there and still to come are/will be enlightened by your thoughts and views on life.
I saw you’ve reposted an edited version of your first comment to me, and I do understand why, but, and you know this, comments out of your heart – just as it come, merely with the brain/mind as a driver – have a rich timbre – It is like listening to the sound of a life orchestra oppose to listen to a recording of the orchestra. I love reading your extensive comments, and I’m sure I am not the only one who hangs on your lips/words.
Hugging you - 7:30am SA_time – office is calling.... Have a lovely day..... I’m looking so forward to your next hub.
Nellieanna, I love your sentence: “.... And I'm not finished with me yet!”
We should, indeed, never stop to ‘work’ on ourselves. When one stops to maintain and improve anything, it rapidly falls to the ground.
Saddlerider left a beautiful comment on my hub that gave wings to my thoughts. I would like to duplicate my reply to him here, as it is one of many (I believe) explanations why people bond in cyberspace –
“It is amazing how we grow in cyberspace – closer to one another, or away, while we also become older/wiser/riper. We are only spirit/heart/soul in cyberspace, no body, while in reality we are all body and seldom spirit/heart/soul. In reality we hide our thoughts – we are too busy to share it with others, or too tired, or too unhappy and not willing to burden the people we know with our anxieties, or perhaps too happy, but oblige to stay stalled in our self-images. Fact is, in this hectic (real) life we live, like Henry David Thoreau said, indeed lives of quiet desperation. But here at the Hubs we find others who have the time to ‘listen’ and respond – Let’s say we spend our alone-time productively in HubPages with our kindred spirits.
What more can I say, Nellieanna? Thanks again for this lovely hub, and for being so kind and nice and wonderful to me.
BTW, I can see myself in your mother :)
I am delighted, no ... I am overjoyed that you, Nellieanna, and Martie have found each other via the Internet. You are both very talented, loving women as well as very special to me.
May you both continue to enjoy this unforeseen pleasure as long as you live. I have spoken. :)
Absolutely beautiful tribute to Martie. It is wonderful that you both have this wonderful relationship via Hubpages. Life sometimes gives us such special people in our lives in a way that we never could have predicted.
Oh my...Today I am enveloped in the richness of an empowering love from reading both yours and marties beautiful tributes. I am speechless as I wallow selfishly in this energy of magical love. Thank you so much for sharing such precious words that give strength to such powerful love and respect.
Thank you for the welcome.
This is absolutely wonderful! What a great tribute to your friend. I voted it up, awesome and beautiful! Thank you for sharing the love you have for your friend with us.
Have a great day and God bless! :-)
Nellieanna I have just arrived from reading MartieCoetser’s tribute to you and it was a must to come and see who this lovely person was. And so found your very touching tribute to her. Your special cyber, mother/daughter relationship shows that we have love in our hearts in abundance to share with others.
Thank you for sharing
Beautiful and awesome
What a beautiful tribute, Nellie! Yes, the internet IS a miracle. My life would be much less rich had I not "met" now-dear friends online. At one time, those ubiquitous "studies" claimed a life lived mostly in cyberspace was unhealthy...that those who did so should immediately seek psychiatric help for this "problem".
Happily, that is no longer the case. I read recently - online, of course! - that it's now considered a sign of *good* mental health if a person is socially active on the internet. That the emotional ties formed with people one has never met (and may never meet) one-on-one, face-to-face are the same. Your relationship with Martie is only one example! ;D
Nellieanna what a wonderful tribute to your cyber daughter Martie Coetser. You know since I joined Hub pages 19 months ago I've stumbled across people who simply stand out as unforgettable in one's mind. People like you and Martie are two that I cherish so much, you are both ladies that express themselves in matters of the heart, mind and soul with extreme passion.
You both formulate your thoughts and lay them across the white with conviction and shear passion. You leave your readers coming back for more with your ability to seduce us to our very souls. I have always sensed the closeness and bond between the two of you, just like a mother and daughter would share and believe me, you can't find a better bond.
I like you Nellieanna know what estrangement from kin feels like and I live with the agony of loss daily. Yet I move on, keep going forward and try to avoid looking back in my past. However I have found solace in the past with my writing of it and sharing it with friends like you and many others here.
Communicating in cyberspace can be as equally rewarding to people when done with LOVE and kindness and caring for the other persons feelings and heart. At the Hubs we all have met wonderful kindred spirits, I am amazed at the many of us who share common ground. Past experiences, loves, hurts, sorrows and Joy.
I am so uplifted reading this beautiful tribute to your cyber daughter/mother relationship and it brings tears to my eyes. There is so much love embellished by the two of you and I pray that you both will stay in close communication not only here at the Hubs but maybe an eventual visit to each others countries. Nelleianna and Martie congratulations on your bond of love for each other and thank you for letting your feelings show here, I am so happy for you both and feel part of the family circle. Hugs to the both of you from the Saddle.
PS: My Amigo Dusty, what I read of your comment also brought tears to my eyes, you are a MAN's Man and never forget it brother. You have seen the light, you have felt God's love and your heart is touched and reaches out to us all. I hear you loud and clear and I sit beside you on that hill looking out as I slowly slide down the other side with you. Love and peace to you Dust.
This heartfelt tribute is so representative of everything I have known at the hub. The feeling of family through the loyal, loving support is like nothing I've experienced anywhere else. It is an enchanted place that spans all barriers and brings one to another, heart to heart, making reach out and touch someone more than words...Here is it reality. Magnificent!
Another fitting tribute. I find both you and Martie to be intelligent, strong, and passionate women. Your such a sweet, kindred spirit. I'm honored and fortunate to be able to read the treasures you and Martie share on the hubs. Thank you!
Nellieanna, stunning tribute so beautiful, Martie is a sweet woman, I've lost her from my list and nearly everyday I find that people show up and I wonder where they've been. I'll be re-following Martie, as I remember that her hubs I enjoyed were quite striking, as I think back of the multipart story of abuse that she so vividly locked my attention with. Then I look toward the writings you have shared with me as well, and I find that the two of you, together as mother and daughter is a sure match of heart. You both are able to touch hearts with word.
I've found that even though I'm the lat man standing in my line of heirs, I've found love of several via cyber connection. I felt like a big old goofy guy in the beginning telling some that I felt a special connection with them through their words and as I set up on my horse and he jars along the trails, I have much time to ponder these things, my God tells me to love everyone even those who would harm me if given chance. So is it really that strange, as we here words written in our minds ear that often spring forth from the depths of their hearts? I'm finding as I grow toward the end of the trail, I want those special people to know, that our trades have carved their place in my soft and tender heart. I've kept that buried, didn't want no one to know, so I put forth that false projected self, a feller who don't owe nothing and can't be caught with a tear in his eye, to tough for that sort of thing. I think I loose that facade, and been called on it a couple times by one of the special folk I trade words with asking if I don't know how people think about me.
It's become a part of my stumbling lately as I poke around out here perched on a rock looking at the city lights and wondering just what it is some are doing, are there still families that set down together, pray and eat together and a host of different things that I've lost touch with as caskets go into the ground, 3 in the past month, telling me I best get to saying what's on my mind, while I got time again today to to it.
I survived another major open heart surgery this year and now have spring in my step again and you just penned a special message that fits right in my scheme of thought, Well I reckon I've about said enough rambling here, I loved the music you picked, and you are a special person to me, as I read your writings, I always seem to get that warm and fuzzy feeling,
Here is a salute raised high to you and Martie,
Love,
Dusty
Nellieanne, I’m the eldest of 5, having 2 sisters and 2 brothers. I love my mother dearly, but we are (like) two totally different islands in the same sea. She is peaceful, with wide plains covered with pretty flowers. She has green hills easy to climb and there are no dangerous fissures in her surface. I am an island with tropical jungles, high mountains and a few active volcanos.
Now being the extreme opposite of my mother was quite difficult to understand while I was a child. I always, and still, believe she does not understand me and prefers to be far away from me. I wanted to be as calm, collected and secretive as she. Not being able to succeed gave me an inferior complex which took me a long time to overcome.
BUT, I’ve accepted myself a long time ago as a unique individual, and I don’t have any wish to be like anybody else.
I think the reason why I feel so close to you, is because you are able to understand me even while I am not like you (or like anybody else). I guess we can write a couple of hubs in our effort to find the reasons why people attract or repel each other.
By now I know I will always enjoy your poems and comments, because.... let me use a metaphor: we are playing in the same orchestra – I play the clarinet and you play the flute, but we are both tuned-in to the sound of the oboe.
Thanks again, Nellieanne, for this beautiful hub you’ve made especially for me :)) - it is truly for me a precious, almost holy, delight.
AAAAAAHHH! Each day of our lives brings what we deserve.. We get to decide what we want to enjoy! Awesome!
Nellieanna, what a nice (and thoughtful) tribute to your special friend, and a thoughtful and giving Hubber (Martie, of course). May your special cyber, mother/daughter relationship continue to warm both of your days. A special friendship is always worth celebrating. :)
Martie is a gem, and so are you Nellieanna.
Nellieanna, I’m totally without words. To wake up in the morning and be greeted in any loving way by one’s mother, is a wonderful privilege I’ve just realized I’ve taken for granted. You know my heart is filled with words of gratitude right now, but swimming in tears of awe.
I think this hub of yours – and mine – prove that relationships in cyberspace could be just as intense and meaningful as any relationship in real life.
We know people feel uncomfortable and even embarrass when they stumble upon two people who are expressing intense emotions towards each other, whether it is love or hate. On the threshold of that part of the human aura closest to the soul, where there is place for only one person beside one self, people will turn around – calm and contented when they saw love, upset and filled with anger when they saw hate.
I am sure, Nellieanne, our co-hubbers will understand that you and I are for the moment overwhelmed with love and appreciation for each other, and they will just smile contently, knowing that some people (like us) can sometimes not suppress and control our intense and passionate emotions.
I love you, my dearest Nellieanna, and I am so-so-so proud to be the daughter of such a lovely woman like you. In my eyes you are flawless like an angel. This hub of yours go straight away to my diary :)))
Hello ladies, this is like being a guest at a 'happy' family reunion. Thanks for the invitation.
What a lovely, heartfelt tribute to a beautiful cyber daughter.
This is a gorgeous tribute to a compassionate and loving lady. Well done Nellieanna.
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