We need to talk

*Blogger seem to be doing better this evening. It is posting the comments but it still says I only have one when several of you have stopped by. If you have the time check out the comments. People have left good ones. And please feel free to leave one of your own.*

I’ve been blogging almost 4 years now. Finding the blogging world has been a life changing experience for me to say the least. Nick would agree. Blogging and all I found with it transformed our marriage from a couple of roommates to lovers. That would have been enough but it also gave me the best friends I have now.

When I arrived it was like moving into a wonderful community of fun and funny people – all who enjoyed TTWD and treated me like a long lost friend. I had never, and still have never, met such welcoming, smart, supportive people in all my life. I loved nothing better than getting up in the morning and talking and visiting with these wonderful neighbors. We laughed at each other, teased each other, sent virtual pillow to each other when they were needed. We talked of kids, spouses, parents and jobs right along with our joys and frustration about spanking.

But as with any real community some move away and new people move in. Relationships change and instead of going with the flow as some of my older friends left, I stayed more and more to myself. There are a few of the wonderful folks I first met that are still out here blogging but I’ve still felt lonely because of the changes. I’ve made a few good friends from the newer people but there are so many wonderful new people that I haven't bothered to get to know that I feel I’ve not really been a good neighbor. There were a few - and I mean very few - who were unkind and hurt my feelings. Why is it, I wonder, that you can be surrounded by warm, caring supportive people yet the few that would go out of their way to be unkind are the ones you really listen to. Those are the comments or the emails that keep you up at night because I believe it's human nature to believe those that say the worst about us. I think it was someone hurting my feelings that temporally stopped me from reaching out to other bloggers and making new friends as much as I have in the past. I say temporally because I am not going to let anyone have that power over me ever again.


Of course part of the problem is time. There are way too many new neighbors to get to meet them all. No one has the time to read and comment on all the new wonderful blogs out here. But I could really be doing a much better job. There are people I often read but I haven’t even bothered to put them on my blog roll. There are people on my blog roll that are no longer active and I guess I need to remove them. I read great blogs but I don’t always comment. I even wrote a post not too long ago that had some good advice of how to get readers and commenters. I think I need to go back and take my own advice. I feel left out but I know I am the one leaving me out, not others. So I’m going to try to do better. You’ll see a change in my blog roll and if by chance I take you off and you would still like to be on it just let me know. I’m going to try to comment more and hopefully more people will talk to me here.

To sum up I guess I am asking that if you are willing to be part of this wonderful, supportive, non-judgmental community that I know we really are - find blogs that you feel are saying something to you and offer your comment as support. Whether you are a fellow blogger, a reader or even a lurker we need your support.

I hope to be talking soon.