First Post of the Day
Fellow blogger and friend Jennifer Buxton just posted an insightful post about her mother and comments that blog posts do and do not receive.
Jennifer wrote:
Still, I know how much bloggers appreciate comments. Like the occasional cup of "coffee", they are one of the things that connect us to our audience and help us to keep writing, even during the hard times.
This post is a reminder - to myself and everyone else - to regularly leave comments on the blog posts I enjoy. It's a little thing, but those words really do make a difference!
She's right - those comments do mean a lot. And I commented in response:
I understand that some will comment and others won't, and that there are many reasons that that happens. But over the years I've been blogging, I've found that those who have commented frequently on my blog have become like friends to me. An unexpected part of blogging that I love!
But for another, very personal reason, Jennifer's remarks were timely. I've been meaning to post something that was hard for me to write about - the loss of a dear friend and a blog reader who had commented frequently on my blog.
My hobby bestie, Kathy Bateman, has passed away.
In fact, it was the sudden lack of Kat's blog comments that made me wonder if something had happened to her. I reached out to her privately but did not hear back. The feeling of dread in me worsened. If Kat was not responding to direct messages, something had to be wrong.
I was right. She'd had a stroke and was hospitalized, then a heart attack, and several more strokes in the hospital. The end came quickly and she slipped away August 3 with family by her side.
In all my years of blogging (Teachinmama since 2008, Horsiemama since 2012) I have gotten to "meet" many people via blog comments.
Many of you feel like friends and I appreciate "chatting" with you through my blogs. Please don't ever feel pressure to comment, but when you do, I love to hear from you.
I hope you all know that.
Another post is coming about Kat next. Stay 'tooned.
