3 Years, 600 Posts, and a New Look

First of all, if you actually read my blog in person (not through a reader), I apologize for the current ugliness. I wanted to change some things around and add some new elements, but in order to do that I had to upgrade my template. Unfortunately Blogger is experiencing some sort of issue because it made me upgrade, and then promptly lost my old template and refuses to let me add or change anything on the current one. So it might be a few days before I get things looking nice again. In the mean time I'm going to go cry because change unsettles me and computers stress me out.

I had hoped this post would be a grand unveiling to celebrate my third year on the internet. I guess it's not, but I'm still here at post six hundred anyways. Even if it's ugly. I realized the other day that I have never written down the reasons why I started blogging in the first place. About four years ago, when S-Boogie was a small baby, I stumbled onto a bulletin board for LDS women at a parenting site. I started posting and participating in the discussions and after a short time found myself hooked. While I liked the bulletin board a lot, I never did manage to feel like I fit in with the group or that my voice was heard. I spent about a year participating in the board sporadically. Then I started hearing more about blogs and someone sent me the link to Dooce. I promptly spent three hours reading all of her archived posts and I loved it. Her writing about parenting and depression was so raw and powerful, and I realized that I had found a forum for the things I wanted to say. I've always been not only narcissistic but also incredibly curious (i.e. nosy), so blogging was a great fit. A number of our friends were starting blogs at the same time and I just followed the bandwagon.

During the last three years my blog has changed and so have I. There are some reasons why I love blogging. I like the outlet for my feelings and the chance to refine my writing. The blog has actually spurred me to start keeping a personal journal again, since there are actually things I don't want to say in public (hard to believe, I know). I've noticed that many of my earlier posts were more like snapshots from my everyday life while more recent ones seem to be more focused and self-contained. I think this is also due to the fact that during the last year I've started reading more of the "bigger blogs" that tend to be issue-focused. Also, I tend to write about the more mundane stuff in my journal now and I've transferred a lot of the kid stuff to their own blog.

I think one of the best things I've gained from blogging has been a network of friends. I'm not under any illusions that blogging is a substitute for actual physical contact, but I've gotten to know people much better through their blogs and I've actually stayed in touch with them. Plus I've made friends with people strictly through online interaction and that has been so fun (by the way, we're going to be in Utah for a month this summer, so stay tuned for opportunities to meet me in the flesh). Sometimes I post things just to get feedback, but that's why we talk to our friends, right?

I think blogging has mostly been a positive thing for me during the last few years. As I've read through posts from the early days, I can see ways in which I've changed and grown. I love reading comments also and knowing that my friends and family are out there reading. We'll see how much longer I can keep this up, but I plan to be here for at least another three years and several hundred more posts.