50 Today!

It's a big day for me today........this is my 50th.............................post! Above, 50 cloths to mop up the debris....... rambling, pictures, misspellings (thank goodness for spell checkers), boring drivel, incorrect punctuation, over egged humor, rants, pants and other silliness! It's been great fun though and totally addictive (as I've said before).

During my fifty posts, I've met some interesting people that I would never have met in the 'real' world. That's what's so good about blogging, don't you think? You can make friends with people without the 'baggage'. All those judgemental bits that we do unconsciously are invisible here. No preconceived ideas, no prejudice. You are free to be what you want to be, or how you want to be. You can tell a little, a lot or nothing at all. And you can 'root' about in other peoples blogs, just like a pig looking for truffles! Mmmm all those extra bits on the side, where to go next? Which gadget to snuffle!! You can just spend hours having a little look about! 'Oh, I'll be up to bed in a few minutes'! In your dreams!!

Now I know a fiftieth post is a drop in the ocean to most of you but I feel I've made some friends in such a short time. Some have affected my life, in subtle ways. Maggie May's post about losing the stone from her mothers ring made me find and put on my own grandmothers ring again. The other day Rose posted about putting out her bird feeders. No ordinary birds though, not for us in the UK anyway, she was putting them out for humming birds! That small piece of news was so lovely to know and I shared it with the children. 'Wow', they said, 'humming birds!' And their imagination ran wild. If I hadn't started my blog we would never have had that conversation. We might never have imagined what it would be like to have humming birds in the garden.

Other people I have met have made me laugh out loud, sometimes quite a lot! (you know who you are!) and some things I have read have been sad or thought provoking. And then there are the comments: These are nifty little things. If only you could use them in 'real' life! They would be great for those moments when you walk away from a conversation thinking, 'I wish I had thought to say......' Because when you leave a comment you can compose it, not like a conversation. You can be sharp, witty even (well you can try!) and if it doesn't read right, you can delete it!

Fifty posts ago I had no idea about any of the people whose posts I read and the things they were doing. But now I feel I know them a little and have enjoyed finding out about their lives (I guess blogging is another way of just being nosey really?!) So what is the common thread? Communication, story telling, camaraderie? Why do you blog?

I have found that piece of me that would often like to speak up but sometimes is just not brave enough. It feels safe, this blogging thing, an anonymous everyday diary, written in the comfort of my own home. I can say what I like, almost! Well no one's going to read it are they?