I’m less than 24 hours into this project, and ever since I began I have experienced a great spectrum of emotions.  From the high I felt when finally clicking 'Publish' on the website (technology is not my strong point. My creating a website- albeit amateur- is a minor miracle), to the lows of doubting myself, this project and wondering if we'll ever find my cousin Ashley, I've been that overemotional girl that I would normally roll my eyes about.  But I couldn't help it, I was missing Will so much today.  So much so that I silenced the voice in my head that feeds my fear of dogs- 'that animal is going to eat you!' it screams whenever a four-legged creature is within eyesight- just long enough to give Zak- Will's loveable yet still completely terrifying yellow lab- a dog treat because it makes me feel closer to him.  However, even that little action (and the fact Zak did not take off one of my appendages in the process) was not enough to stop me from feeling really sad by afternoon.

Then I signed onto the ‘Ashley Wish’ facebook account to accept some friend requests.  As I came online, a random ‘Ashley Marie’ I friended earlier popped up to say hello in a chat window.  No, it wasn’t my cousin (ha, like it'll be that easy), but it was a girl who took an interest in this project after receiving the friend request and who took it upon herself to do some searches for Ashley McFarland on Myspace.  When I thanked her for sending me links to possible matches she simply replied “no problem. I’d want the same.” 

Ashley Marie not only made me smile, but she also gave me a dose of much-needed optimism (yeah, the optismism I described in my first post was short lived) that some day I’ll find the Ashley Marie I’m looking for.  My college friends will also appreciate that my first Ashley helper is from Georgia... you read it here first, Audra is singing the praises of a Southerner.  So it is with great gratitute- and well, irony- that I say: thank you Ashley Marie of Georgia, you’re what this is all about.   

With love (and conviction that it will still take an earth-shattering event to get me to willingly drop below the Mason-Dixon line again),

Audra

 


Comments




Leave a Reply