Angels aren't just in Heaven

"How do I say thank you" is the key phrase that is running through my mind. If I were to meet you in real life, I could take you to dinner, give you a rose, or maybe just say it! Maybe.

In real life it is easier to say thank you for some, but for me I would probably get embarrassed, as I am always when I run across people that unselfishly give of their time to help others, to share their knowledge with no expectation of reward. Anytime I come in contact with people that volunteer to help me, my heart overflows with gratitude.

Online I use the keyboard as the vessel to allow my thoughts to flow from my heart, and my mind, to the screen. Online I can say what I want without embarrassment. And so now I will give my thanks to everyone, and these 4 specifically, and even now I feel the gratitude overflowing. I can only pick 4 per my own Contest criteria, and believe me I wished I had never put that in there. Because how do you only pick 4 when there are so many?

The first person I really have to, and want to thank is GypsyOwl. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't even be on Squidoo.She's not an Angel, but I would be remiss in not including her, after all how do we know she's not a real Angel anyway?

I "met" Gypsy Owl on Twitter. I loved her colorful avatar, and started following her, because she said she was an artist. Later I read something she'd written about Squidoo Lenses, and how she had several lenses to write. I wanted to know what she was talking about so I could comment intelligently so I went to Squidoo....and read a few things; that's how it all started! One day, she mentioned a class she was forming, and I wanted to try it. I love writing, and it sounded good, especially the part about she would help us. And help she did.

Dec. 2nd 2008 her first class-here was my very first, of oh so many questions about Squidoo: My question was "how did some people get followers, or whatever they're called on that median. My friend RyanRE has over 200, and I know many of those people. He asked me what my Squidoo Link was, and boy that took me by surprise. I don't understand at this point what Squidoo is or does."

I am smiling reading this because in the September 2009 Giant Challenge I still seemed to have a ton of questions. I am reading all the emails right now that I saved and still smiling at how patient Deborah was. Apparently even back then Squidoo would have some down time, as my next response was about being "glad" that Squidoo was down as she had me going to Profiles, fans, SquidUtils, and oh so many places that I was absolutely overwhelmed. But she handled each thing beautifully, even once doing a phone tutorial with me.

This is what I wrote her on my second email: "I am so glad I liked your name on Twitter and started to follow you. I have read your Profile on Squidoo I think, and we actually have a lot in common. I was impressed with your background, and your motivation. Thank you very much for the help you are giving me."

On December 8th I wrote this on my Active Rain Blog to thank her, and introduce her to my friends on that network.

And little did I know that about nine months later I would be earning my Giants Badge! And the first person I told was of course, GypsyOwl. She told me she always felt I was a "Giant in her eyes".

How's that for making someone feel good....so Deborah (Gypsy Owl) I want to say "thank you" from the bottom of my heart!

After I found Squidoo I looked for other people that were lensmasters on Twitter and found some that it turned out were Angels, but I didn't know what an Angel was, so wasn't impressed at all by that. What I was impressed by were their personalities. It took me awhile to feel comfortable enough to approach them, and once you see this name you might laugh, as this person is a real sweetheart. I didn't see her at first as she was behind an Avatar with a different name, some sort of game she plays on Twitter.

My second thank you goes to Mimi aka GrowWear. I tried to play her game, but my mind doesn't think like that...I couldn't unscramble words that fast. But in following the game, and the people that played it I saw more Squidoo people, and followed them, especially the ones that followed her. I figured if they followed her they had to be people I wanted to know. That probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but I really wanted to know who was in this community. So I started on Twitter while I was trying to find my way around the dashboard, and all the other things.

Anyway, I read one of Mimi's lenses and immediately was impressed. I liked her first, read the lens second, and afterward moved her over to that spot in my heart that was reserved for special people. Yes, Mimi is a special person, and a real asset to the community in her role as Angel.

When I was worried about becoming a Giant, I told her, and she said "Kathy,you are a already a Giant, waiting for a Badge." I cannot even tell you how that made me feel. I was filled with emotion that she would say something like that, and then I knew I would make it. That I would reach my goal and be chosen to be one of the Giants.

So, Mimi thank you.....thank you for everything, You are an Angel both here and in life, I just know you are!

The next person I "met" on Twitter was JaguarJulie Oh, how her Avatar looked like someone you could talk to, so I started clicking her links, and that brought me to her apparently #1 lens on Stuffed Cabbage. Again a connection, as I lived almost 4 years in Romania and loved stuffed cabbage, although it was called something else. I started reading Julie's lens and was thinking "I can never make a lens like that" and it was so long! I might love to write, but that lens looked like it was a book. I was impressed.

I knew nothing of purple stars, ratings, LOD's or anything else. All I knew was Julie wrote something I liked, her picture looked like she would be easy to talk to, and she was available on Twitter. It was only much, much later that I learned she was an Angel. I saw her in Squid U talking, and commenting and I saw her around the community. She also wrote many many times about her community building project "The Journal of the Traveling Squid" but at that time I was working very hard to learn a ton of things necessary to become a Giant and didn't go read it. What a mistake that was, I even told her in the Forum that I was embarrassed for not doing so, and immediatly went to the lens, and signed up. What a wonderful project this is!

Then when I got the honor of hosting the Journal, I messed up my signature and got it almost on top of Julies. For 2 days I was horrified, and finally sent her a message on Twitter of what I had done. What a gracious lady....."don't worry, it is an Art piece" she said. I cannot even begin to tell you how that gracious comment felt. My gut feeling last year was right, JaguarJulie really is an easy person to talk to!

In my lens on why I wanted to work so hard to become a Giant, Julie was one of the people I mentioned I wanted to be like. A giver, and a great Community member.

So, my 3rd thank you is to JaguarJulie......thank you Julie for everything. You give new meaning to the word Angel, even if you are an invisible one that just fly's all around and no one knows you were there. But we do know really....you have left your mark, even though it's not necessarily in the comment section.

Michelle Willow (a_willow) is probably the hardest one for me to thank. I have tried with a few of my writings, but it just doesn't seem to be enough. Not that she would ever ask, or expect, anything. I just am so grateful she found me after GypsyOwl got me started here.

I had made 4 lenses when one day I got the most wonderful invite to join something called the Fresh Squid Group. It was wonderful because it came unexpectedly, and someone wanted me in their Group. It said I couldn't have more than 5 lenses, so believe me I made sure I didn't make another one........

I joined the Group, read many things and finally made my 5th lens. But it was really only on Twitter that I got to know a little about Michelle Willow, known only to me at at the time as a_willow . I loved her Avatar and had been following her too, and one day I got an invite to join something called Rocket Moms. I had no idea at all what that was, but if Michelle sent an invite, then it had to be as good as her Fresh Squid Group (now named Fresh Wonders). I checked it out, and started making lenses....the first time I really made an effort to make them consistently. I didn't want to let Michelle down by not following through, so I stuck to it, and graduated the 2nd Group of Rocket Moms.

I'm a little foggy here as I don't really remember the time, but yep I got another Tweet telling me about the September Giant Challenge. What! I only had 10 lenses done at this time, and that would mean a huge commitment on my part, and I wasn't sure I was ready. GypsyOwl had helped me get started, and Rocket Moms helped me build lenses, but to make "40" lenses in 2 months, well I just didn't know.

Once again, it was because I wanted to improve, I wanted to be one of the best, so I applied to Michelle's Team. I didn't even know Mimi had a group at the time, or I might have been torn as to which one to join. However in retrospect I know I made the best decision for me. I love Michelle's style of teaching, it fits so perfectly with my personality- a balance of pushing and supporting. She never let me get by with half done stuff, told me when I was overdoing it with my newly learned borders, and colors, and well she's just the best Leader I have run across in a very long time!

How do I say thank you to Michelle? She gave me (and the rest of her Team) all the tools I needed. She made sure we went out into the community, to SquidU and participate. She told us over and over what was expected to be a good Giant. And most importantly she leads by example. I truly wanted to do my best, because she was giving her best to help me, help all of us.

How do I say thank you, I can't, at least not adequately. I don't have enough words to thank Michelle, but I am ever so grateful she found me and helped me in my journey. She is the epitome of the best of the best in my book! Leadership with personality, and a ton of energy mixed with her love for Squidoo.

So my meager Thank you Michelle will have to do......Thank you, sincerely and truly!