It's getting personal now, this whole blogging thing. I'm in deep, I've made friends and I worry when I see someone out there going through a hard time. On my sidebar are pretty little pictures along with pretty little blog names, but each of these are real people going through real life and some of them have heartache that is unimaginable. Some of them are going through the agony of failed marriages, or the loss of loved ones or the struggles of facing each day after losing their jobs. It's not all picture perfect in this blog world.
It didn't seem real when I started tap, tap, tapping away at this keyboard 3 1/2 years ago. I'd download some pictures, write a few words to go with and hit post. Somewhere along the way I accidentally started sharing my life with you. I blogged a lot about Mom and the struggles with her dementia. I felt like I was on a train going full steam ahead, the track broken and dangerous. I blogged about the economy and it brought back memories of the early years when we didn't have two nickles to rub together but somehow we figured it out. Nearly every day for these 3 1/2 years I've thought of something to share with the strangers who come for a visit but leave as friends. You listen and you comment and as I read your blogs the world is getting smaller and nicer and kinder.
We are sharing a piece of ourselves when we sit down and write. It goes out into Cyberspace for all to read and somehow magically reaches the people who care. Divine intervention? Magic is smoke and mirrors, anything that touches our hearts like another human caring enough to write encouraging words back, even to say a little prayer...is much more.
You're so right! I'm making friends in a way I'd never thought possible.
ReplyDeleteI've got a "personal" blog too and I sometimes wonder about putting my life so on display. But that's the only way that my blog can be meaningful to me!
I felt the same way when I first started blogging, I was careful about what I put out there. But gradually I felt more and more comfortable sharing my family and my memories with strangers who had become friends!
DeleteI kind of wish that we had a blogger get together in my neck of the woods, maybe I should start something like that!
ReplyDeleteHappy July 4 to everyone and Id like to invite everyone to my post "Lancaster on 4 wheels part 2 this coming Thursday. Richard
I've seen other bloggers getting together, you should see if some that are close would like to meet for get together! Sounds like fun!
DeleteThis is very true Joy, As I sit down each morning with a cup of coffee, I visit all my favorite blogs and look forward to reading about their families and their lives....sometimes celebrating their happy times or sharing lifes bumpy roads....it's a blessing and I have come to care about each and everyone...it's the circle of life in our technical world, I suppose!
ReplyDeleteMe too Betsy! I don't have the time to visit everyday but when I do I go back several posts and often find I've missed a really good one. It may not be Pulitzer Prize material, but it's our lives in black and white and the honesty in some of those posts is very touching.
DeleteIsn't blogging wonderful?! I love making connections with like-minded friends and not-so-like-minded friends too -- seems I could live several lifetimes and never make such great connections to others as I have thru blogging!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Joy :)
Happy 4th!
Blessings!
Gail
It is Gail! We cut to the chase and forge friendships on the things we do have in common rather than pick at the things we don't!
DeleteI agree totally! I started my blog as a way to remember births, shot records of our animals, get togethers and it has become more. I really enjoy reading about my fellow bloggers mmmmm and Estelles's recipes.....sorry I backslide :) and everyday family life. To me it makes the world seem a little bit smaller and a lot more friendly. I have learned so many way's to be more earth friendly and I feel more like we are in this world "together" and doing the best we can with what God has given us. Blogging gives me that extra push that I needed to also stay on track and if I have a problem blogging about it clears my head a little and somehow makes it not seem so bad. :)
ReplyDeleteI get so much pleasure out of the "farm journal blogs" like yours and Glenda's! My heart goes back to my Grandparents farm or my Aunt Joy's. We grow by reading what others lives are like and are encouraged to be better stewards of the Earth. I need the ongoing encouragement to keep me on track, exactly!
DeleteThat's beautiful, joy.
ReplyDeleteThanks sweetie, true words from my heart to your ears!
DeleteThis post speaks wonders for us all....
ReplyDeleteWe all feel it, that's how the words pour out every day!
DeleteIt truly is a village!...
ReplyDeleteI think we feed off the positive vibes that blogging gives us. Moving in the right direction instead of stagnating in our shortcomings... we all have those!
DeleteI agree!
ReplyDeleteGreat little group here this morning!
Deletei dont write my own blog, but i have some that i read every evening..kinda like just checcking on everyone before turning in for the night..so, anyway, i know just what you mean about friends and acquaintances and folks you have never laid eyes on, but think about or pray for daily. it is like living with the "waltons" on walton mountain.
ReplyDeleteSome people say we just don't care about each other anymore, that's just not true. We may not have the same relationship that friends and neighbors did years ago, but the need to connect is still there. If we didn't have a close family growing up, then we make our own "family" when we get older. We crave the feeling of family, all of us.
DeleteYou are so right. Blogging does become personal.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that people who don't blog don't understand the connection,
But it's definitely there.
I'm telling you, it's therapy... and it's FREE!
DeleteA beautiful post....so true and well put. I've really enjoyed coming across your blog. Its special!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much Maggie Ann! It's hard to explain how this blogging community "works," but those of us who check in everyday know just how important it is in our lives! So glad you came for a visit and I hope you'll come back. Join us on Facebook's Granny Mountain Group for recipes and more!
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