A Year Ago Today…

One year ago today I entered into this crazy blogging world.  My initial post was very short and my commenter's were only IRL friends and family.  For awhile I only received comments from my mom, my mother in law or one of my two sisters in law. 

Now I have by no means “made it” in the blogging world.  If anything, I have learned that there are a gazillion mommy bloggers out there with cute kids and tales to share.  What makes some rise to the top with hundreds of commenter's and thousands in their RSS feed?  I do not know.   But, I do not measure my success in the numbers of people reading and responding to my thoughts each day.  I love blogging and even though I only have a scattering of faithful readers each day, I still consider it a worthwhile investment of my time.  And the reason is for those of you with whom I have formed a “real” relationship.  A year ago today I had no idea that I would make true friends through this blogging world.  No idea that I would rekindle relationships with people I had lost contact with years ago. I had no idea I would find myself earnestly praying for, rejoicing with, and caring genuinely about these ladies whom I have never seen face to face. 

This year has been a huge blessing to me.  I discovered a love for writing that I didn’t realize was there and an outlet I didn’t realize I needed.  I’ve been given an avenue to preserve my children’s antics that doesn’t feel like homework and which later I will be able to look back on and recall fondly this stage in our life. 

Blogging has become a common word in the circus family’s vocabulary.  My son or daughter will laugh about something and then ask if I will “put that on my blog.”  My husband has been more than supportive of this new endeavor and the time it takes me each day to invest in it and in the lives of people I meet through it.  He daily reads my posts and checks my comments.  The past two weeks he has spent way, way more time working on my blog than I have.  He’s been coming home from a long day at work, helping me put the kids to bed and then sitting at the dining room table, learning CSS and other codes and languages which I don’t understand in order to design for me the blog of my dreams.    We’ve had to Tivo two weeks worth of our favorite shows b/c every night it’s been nothing but the blog.  I’m embarrassed to admit that on more than one night I went to bed before him as he stayed up until the morning adjusting this color or that line, to make it come out the way we envisioned.  Thanks honey, I love you too!  More than you could ever know!! 

So, a year of blogging has shown me that while blogging does take a good deal of time, it is also a lot of fun.  I still absolutely love every comment I get.  I love the interaction.  The only thing better would be to sit and chat face to face with my readers, maybe over a cup of coffee.  While I can’t make that work, I can at least offer one of my lucky readers a frappuchino on me!  That’s right, in honor of my one year blogoversary and the friendships I have made through this endeavor, I am giving away a $10 Starbucks gift card.  Perhaps it will encourage some of my “lurkers” to come out of the woodwork and say hello.  I’d love to meet you and get to know you better.  All you have to do to enter, is leave a comment below.   To increase your chance of winning, you can subscribe to my RSS feed and or follow me on twitter  (you can’t miss the links on my supper cool new blog design :-).  Just leave a separate comment letting me know that you did so.  I’ll announce the lucky winner on Monday and include all comments received before 1:00pm EST Monday in the drawing.  

I can’t wait to hear from you!