|
|
Wow... how time flies! |
If I do say so myself, it's something to crow about, particularly for a
blogger with a "once a week" schedule. Others have reached four hundred posts
in the span of two or three years by posting more often. This milestone took
me four hundred weeks — or about seven years and eight months — to achieve.
I can vouch for the fact that when one of us starts out on this adventure,
we don't know how far we might get. It's nothing that can be planned, no
matter how organized one might be.
For instance, it's late April as I start to draft this post and I'm stuck.
What am I going to write about for my four hundredth post?
Would it be a good time to say, that's it, I'm done?
Well, maybe that's jumping the gun a little. (But not by a lot.)
I've already covered the whys and wherefores of this blog in past posts
about reaching a certain milestone (like
this,
this
and
this), so I will not repeat myself. As a quick reminder, however, I started
this blog to challenge myself; to share with, learn from, and inspire
others; and to engage in meaningful communication with some members of the
sewing community.
When I read the latter part of that summary, it gave me pause. Later at
night — again, during one of those annoyingly wakeful moments when I
should be sleeping — the topic for this post finally came to me.
Relationships.
None of us achieve very much all on our own, although in today's world
of easy fame by social media, many are under the mistaken impression
that they do.
My sewing hobby (and by extension, this blog) is rooted in significant
relationships of different kinds. Two are "real life" relationships;
i.e., not founded online. One is a friend who lives in British Columbia,
the person who showed me her beautifully crafted
Professional Tote
that set me on this unexpected journey. Some events are truly life
changing — even if not earth shatteringly important — and she was at the
center of that one. Without hyperbole, I simply wouldn't be here had it
not been for her.
The other real life relationship of consequence to my sewing hobby is
Colleen, whom I've mentioned here by name in the very early days and later on
as my "market friend". I referred to her as thus because she was an avid
participant of several local crafters' markets over the past decade. (It
was through her table that I made all but one of my actual finished
product sales.)
Colleen came into my life fifteen years ago as a caregiver for my
father-in-law. She was a retired physiotherapist and an accomplished
seamstress. Always going over and above in her service, she even altered
my father-in-law's clothing so that he could be dressed more easily.
After he passed away, Colleen and I continued to keep in touch several
times a year. Given her talents as a seamstress, she was the first person
I spoke with regarding my renewed interest in sewing. With no fabric of my
own and clueless about where to go to get any, she supplied me with
virtually everything that I needed to make my first
Professional Tote and beyond.
In the quiet seclusion of a palliative care home earlier this year,
Colleen left this world after a year long battle with cancer. Given COVID,
I hadn't seen her since shortly after she was diagnosed. With the marking
of four hundred weeks of blogging, I salute her for helping me get here,
for her friendship, and for her unbounded dedication to my father-in-law
during the final years of his life.
The other relationships that have sustained me through four hundred blog posts have been formed online.
You know what? Online relationships are strange.
As I wrote earlier this year to someone with whom I've exchanged many
emails — but who I only know via this blog — given the tenuous nature of
online connections, it feels weird to reach out for no reason. (We both
confessed to having thought of one another at various times, but mostly
hesitated to get in touch.) While I wouldn't think twice to call or text
someone that I know in real life just to ask how things are going, I'm
oddly uncomfortable doing so with someone I only "know" online through a
social media platform.
In a certain sense, that's kind of sad, but in a practical sense, it is
what it is. The communication that goes on between a blogger and a reader
isn't typically profound. As personal as any given message might appear to
be, the words and sentiments are in the moment and usually about something
specific (i.e., the topic of a post or a project). I can think of several
seemingly meaningful connections established through this blog that have
fallen by the wayside over the years.
Even when extraordinary personal gestures have occurred, it's not a
guarantee of a lasting relationship. Case in point: in April 2015, a
reader going by the name of
Jake sent me a box of fabric
and notions essentially just because. However, by about the same
time a year later, the email exchanges stopped and I have no idea what has
happened to her. I remain curious and hope she's well, but it's really not
as though I feel comfortable sending a message to say, "Haven't heard from
you in years, what's up?"
After all, the answer could very well be something like,
hey, I've moved on; what are you, some kind of stalker? And who
wants to get that kind of response?
Blogger to blogger is slightly different, because it's not quite the same
as chasing after a former reader. There are a couple of fellow bloggers —
and I hope they know who they are — that I would not hesitate to contact
if their blogs went dark and I was concerned about their welfare.
However tenuous, what I want to clarify about these online relationships is that they all have been and are deeply appreciated. Beyond words. For as long as it lasts, whether it's a short time or a long time, anyone who makes the effort to comment on or email me with some regularity about what I've written here adds considerably to the fulfillment I get from doing this.
In the past couple of years, I feel like I've gotten to know a few of you,
albeit in small, random ways. It does give me the warm fuzzies to receive comments
from "regulars", particularly when I know that you can choose to spend
your time elsewhere.
Even though the final chapter of this blog's story is more or less written
— soon I'll run out of things to make and subsequently write about — the time remaining between now and then is not known.
While the outcome is inevitable and will definitely arrive before another four hundred posts are up, I'll always have the feather in my cap that I wrote four hundred posts.
With the achievement of this milestone, I am giving myself permission to
deviate from my format and once a week schedule. You might begin to see "clip show content". (Ha, ha.) And while I will make every
effort to continue as usual, I might just skip the occasional
Saturday. I think I've earned it.
On that note, thank you for reading this off-topic post. ♥‿♥
'Til next...
I’ve got to say I’ve enjoyed and look forward to your Sat post. You’ve inspired, educated and entertained me. Thank you. I hope you continue, but I’ve often wondered how you come up with new topics. It’s not just new ideas, it’s actually making it and working out the kinks to save the rest of us the frustration. Very much appreciated.
ReplyDeleteMy most humblest thanks for your appreciations, Bonnie. You've helped me achieve what I set out to do and that's no small feat. You do bring up a key point in what has made me realize that the end may be near, however. Finding — or coming up with — intriguing projects and then feeling the need to make them and tweak them is becoming more of a challenge.
DeleteWriting 400 posts is definitely a milestone and one worth celebrating. Beyond the basics of sharing projects and ideas, building relationships with readers is such a bonus! Having repeat posters arrive to comment and leave bits of their thoughts and experiences makes blogging more personal and interactive. I hope your blog has no end date as I've gleaned a lot from you in ways of inspiration, information and morality. You have a great sense of what's important and how to go about achieving goals. You are an exemplary and admirable human! Blessings to you and thank you for your blog!
ReplyDeleteOnly found your blog relatively recently and have become a regular reader. I enjoy the way you work through your process. My condolences on the loss of your friend, and congratulations on the milestone.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Tish, for taking the time to leave a comment. I truly appreciate the kind thoughts and support.
DeleteCongratulations on writing 400 posts, Rochelle. That adds up to a considerable amount of time. Blogland is so very different to real life. Perhaps it's harder to form lasting relationships as on our blogs we tend to only show a small part of our lives.
ReplyDeleteKuddos to you Rochelle on 400 blog posts! I had no idea how many blog posts I had, so I just looked and it's 1411 posts since 3/2008. If it wasn't for all the stuff I make and share, it wouldn't be nearly that many posts. And if I stop making stuff (which isn't likely any time soon), I wouldn't have much to blog about. I see so many people come and go in blogland, that I can't help but wonder about them too. But it isn't quite the same as real in person relationships. An in this day and age, people are so offended by everything, that you cannot even ask simple questions without someone taking offense; or make a comment, because you don't know the tone the writer wrote it in or the tone the reader read it. Which is crazy. So oftentimes I won't comment on social media anymore because of that. Fairly recently I asked a simple question to a woman and she went all weird to the extent of disappearing from social media and unfollowing me (or blocking me?). Huh? There was nothing in that question to have caused such a reaction, so I have to think she had issues in the first place. But you never know what the person's really like when it's all online and you cannot see with your own eyes and hear with your own ears, or get a vibe positive or negative from another person. In person, I know if the person I see and hear is genuine or not or someone to avoid, but online it's not easy to tell. Anyhow, thanks for your posts, all 400 of them and I hope many, many more to come.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on 400 posts! I especially appreciate your thought processes and "work arounds". You have my permission (ha!) to blog whenever you please, but please keep on blogging! (I'd hate to have to worry about you.)
ReplyDeleteAw, that warms my heart - even though right now more heat is not what I need! My outlook for continuing is constantly in flux. Right now I have eight posts in the queue, so feeling good. As soon as that number declines, well... ;-)
DeleteMany thanks for the appreciations!