My Fifth Blogoversary (Part One)
This is the first part of a two-part blog post. One post simply grew too long to contain everything I wanted to say.
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Take One:
Five years ago, I started this blog.
The end.
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Take Two:
Five years ago, I started this blog. When I read about blogoversaries back when I first started this blog, I couldn’t fathom celebrating my own. Certainly not my five-year one. And while you eight- or ten-year bloggers may scoff at my piddly five-year marker, those who are just starting out are probably looking at this number the way I did five years ago. How the hell does it happen?
How does someone open a post box and write a new post, day after day after day? I have never stepped away from the blog for longer than a few days. How do you blog the same holidays year after year? Life keeps revolving — years are circular — but blogs are linear. They keep moving in a straight line of events while life circles back around, the same themes constantly surfacing, the same foibles revealed, the same struggles fought.
You feel love, you feel love, you feel love.
And you need to keep writing this linear project, keeping it fresh and interesting to yourself because if you’re bored, then what is the point?
You reach a five-year anniversary, you write several thousand posts, simply by doing it. By falling in love with your blog and taking all that comes with that relationship. The sweet moments when the comments are high, the dry moments where you can’t think about what to write. The blog posts that bring you nothing but tears. The blog posts that you would cry about if you ever lost.
Because love is never easy. Love is messy; and it’s wonderful in its messiness. And if you love your blog, you too will one day look at the calendar and realize that you are celebrating a five-year blogoversary.
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Take Three:
Five years ago, I started this blog. People have asked me before if I’ve ever thought about walking away from it. Of course I have thought about it. I think it is natural to be in a mood and take out that mood on something or someone you love. You know who will be forgiving and who won’t be.
You probably just made a face and thought to yourself, but a blog is an inanimate object. It’s like saying that you’ve taken out your mood on a dish.
But you’re not inanimate, are you? Every reader is a living, breathing human.
(You are human, right? The aliens haven’t arrived yet, right? I am a little freaked out from the Falling Skies opening episode.)
Therefore, you take a chance when you take out your mood on a blog because it’s like coral — you think you are standing on a rock, something that can’t feel pain or react to the pressure of your foot, and then you discover that coral is actually a living organism, capable of dying.
A blog is quite similar. If you think of it as an inanimate object, you’re being careless. Blogs are living organisms with very real people attached to the word core. People who are affected by what you choose to place on the screen. They will laugh or they will cry or they will think; but they can also walk away angry, frustrated, or filled with grief.
I am human, and I lash out just like every other human from time to time. I take out my mood on this blog, and I think about walking away from it. But like all good relationships, this blog has the elasticity to bend without breaking. You pull away. I pull away. And then we regroup and come back together. And I write yet again.
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Takes Four and Five coming soon.
55 comments
Congratulations. I, for one, am so glad you are still are here and we are friends.
Happy Blogoversary!!! Heck I’m one of those newbies who hasn’t even made it a year yet….5 years is quite an accomplishment! I’m hoping to keep this going for at least a year….as long as I have at least one reader I’ll keep writing 🙂
Congrats on five years. I for one (and I know so many other women are too) am VERY grateful that you started this blog five years ago and kept it up since then. Yours is truly the hub of our community and we benefit so much from your direction. You’re like the meeting circle at the airport that everyone knows how to find. That meeting circle always makes me feel better, more confident, less lost and your blog does too. Thank you.
Congrats on 5 years and thank you for all you do for our community!
Happy five years! I can’t believe it has been that long. And you are awesome. And pretty.
Congratulations on 5 years! That’s a lot of writing. And community building. And cheerleading. And amazing the rest of us with the things that you do. Happy Blogoversary!
Happy Blogoversary 🙂
Happy Blogoversary! I also cannot believe that it has been five years. It feels like you have always been here, and I have been grateful for that continuity.
Thank you for all that you do for this community.
Waiiiittttt a minute . . . 5 years??!! That’s IT? Why does it seem like I’ve been reading you much longer? I feel like you date back to the ol’ days of the IF posse and people I was reading back in the early part of the century, when time was invented. I suppose it could just be that you fit in so incredibly well it was like you were there, or at least should have been, all along.
Your blog has been invaluable to me. A lifesaver, both as a reader and a writer. Thanks for being here and writing, Mel.
Yeah, I’m with Tash. It seems like we’ve been doing this since the internets were just a twinkle in Al Gore’s eye, or something like that. You mean this wasn’t a BBS first?
Thank you for being you, for being here, for always coming back. MWAH!
Happy blogoversary! In addition to being a thoughtful and gifted writer, you’re an inspiration to many and a fantastic community organizer. Truly an accomplishment to celebrate. Congrats!
Happy blogoversary! I’m on the Mel-Rocks bandwagon!!! Thanks so much for all you do for the IF/parenting community. I appreciate your blogroll, and LFCA posts especially. You’re awesome!
Oh YES! So well said. Happy Blogoverary to you, Mel. This is awesome!
I had a wonderfully intimate couple of hours with my blog today. It felt good to be writing again. You lit me up girl! Well done.
I have you to thank for that. You helped to bring me out of my funk. I feel somewhat accountable to my friends, dear readers.
And so I should be. 😉
Congrats! I can’t wait to hear the rest…
Forgot to add a LUNGE in excitement!!!
I am so glad you put pen to paper, or the electronic equivalent, 5 years ago today. And that you keep this space, inviting others to connect, grow, interact, become.
It’s a lovely, vibrant, kind, amazing space.
I remember when you celebrated your 2nd blogoversary, and two years seemed like so much. Now I’m approaching my own 3rd and I don’t know where the time has gone.
Happy 5th!!!
Wow! Big high fives to you! ( that just came to me as I was typing – I has no idea it was coming out that way! Although the plural part isn’t that clever because that makes it more than five. Oh well, never mind!
I’m intrigued to realize that you started blogging after the twins were here. Now that is interesting. Love your blog, love your chutzpah and your sensitivity too:)
Happy blogoversary!! Not only do I love reading your blog, but it’s connected me with so many other people who are close to my heart. I’m glad your relationship with it/us is strong enough that how it might have stretched at times it hasn’t broken.
I always mean to mention mine and never do – it somehow slips past me every year.
I’m with those who can’t believe it’s only 5 years – that means I’ve been reading you almost since the beginning! Happy Blogoversary! Thank you for sticking around and giving us all a place to gather.
Happy 5th Blogoversary Mel! I really enjoyed reading your first three takes and look forward to reading the other two! 🙂 I LOVE your blog too and am so glad that you have kept it going strong for this long and not walked away. I have learned so much for you and continue to. I am grateful to have you as a mentor in my life and more importantly to call you my friend. Congratulations on this significant milestone in your life as a blogger. I look forward to continuing to read, ponder and comment here for the next five plus years! Thank you for being you and for all that you are, do for and share with our ALI Community! MWAH!!! XOXO
Happy Blogoversary, Lollipop!
“Life keeps revolving, years are circular!” Oh yes!
And I am so glad you are here! Please continue to be here!
Congratulations on your 5th blogoversary! You are a great inspiration to a lot of people!
I love the way your blog has evolved over the years. Remember the Blilt? You always keep coming up with cool new ideas for getting people connected to each other. And I love your writing. Happy Blogoversary!
Happy, happy blogoversary, Mel!!! : ) There is so much that I could say, but what it all boils down to is I’m so happy & grateful that you & your blog are here. You’re a treasure. xoxoxoxo
Happy blogaversary to a lovely writer and fantastic person.
Love you, sweetie.
xoxo
Take One:
I am proud of you.
Take Two:
I am so very proud of you.
Take Three:
I am so very proud of all you have accomplished with this blog.
Take Four:
I am so very proud of all you have accomplished with this blog, which goes so far beyond what the word “blog” even implies.
Take Five:
I am so very proud of all you have accomplished with this blog, which goes so far beyond what the word “blog” even implies. You have increased the quotient of love in the world, and that goes far beyond blogging.
Congratulations.
Happy blog(g)(i)(o)(a)versary, however it’s spelled. 🙂
And aw, Josh!
Happy Blogoversary Mel, you are amazing in so many ways. All the best.
Congratulations!! So much has come out of this blog that I’m sure you never would have dreamt that 5 years ago. You were one of the first bloggers I read and I started mine on June 20, 2006 as well and your blog was what inspired me to make it a habit. So glad I’ve spent the last 5 years with you!
I wish I’d been here since the beginning. I was lost and naive then. Three years out of five ain’t bad.
Happy 5 Years, Mel!!
It still amazes me after more than 10 years of a blogger how much has come out of it and how much I enjoy it. Happy 5 years… here’s to the next 5!
Oh my goodness, what amazing things you have done in your five years in this space! I would have assumed you have been here since the start of blogging! I cannot believe I started Bio Girl just six months after you started this.
Happy Anniversary. I love it. You are the best.
Josh is so sweet!
Happy blogoversary! I always forget mine, and you inspired me to check it. Yes I’m that girl who forgets birthdays too. I kinda suck that way. I’m coming up on 4 yrs in August. Cool!
Happy ICLW! great post Mel. You are so right- it is love..that needs to be tended and pruned. It can be super easy somedays, and super hard others. I am so thankful that 5 years ago you started blogging. I was inspired by you to get mine going and it has really saved my sanity.
<3
Congratulations! That is quite a milestone…and I for one am very happy that you have never abandoned “us”. Your blog made it possible for me to find others like me and read their experiences…for that I am grateful, so thank you! 🙂
It is truly amazing what you have done with his space. A million thanks for all you do, for coming back, for being you. Community, compassion, inclusion. Many congrats to you– you should be so proud! I’m so fortunate to have crossed your path.
Mazel tov on 5 years! You are a pillar in this community and a beacon for all newcomers.
Cant imagine my life without ya! (or your blog for that matter!) Happy day, my friend. Thanks for ALL you do!
WOW. Your blog is almost as old as my twins! How is it that I was not reading it back then, when I needed it the most? I must have known of it’s existence. I must have been reading it this long. Damn, I’m old. You and your blog, however, are still sunshine fresh 🙂 A big, huge, congrats on five years of blogging excellence.
Happy blogoversary, Mel!
I can’t find anything else witty to say, because Josh stole my idea of clever congrats comment. 🙂
Honestly, you are wonderful and I hope you do not get tired of hearing how wonderful your blog is. Repetition is somehow tiring, but then that is the price of being you. 😉
I hope you are properly celebrating this. *raises champagne flute* To Mel!
Happy Blogoversary, Mel.
Congratulations on all you and your blog have achieved. I hope you realise how important this is to all of us!
Happy Blogoversary! Thank you for creating this space and sharing your stories and humor and kindness and snake photos here.
Beautifully written as usual. Happy blogoversary!
Can I just say “yeah, that!” to Josh’s sweet comment? 🙂
There have been so many days that I have found myself immensely grateful for the day that I stumbled upon your blog. Through your words, as well as the words of those that I found because of your blogroll, I was able to feel much less lonely during a really difficult time. This community is so blessed to have a place like your blog to help bring us all together. Thank you so much for all that you offer to each of us every time you sit down and write a new post.
Congratulations, Mel!
Happy blogoversary! I’m very glad you are still here. I’ve only found this wonderful community a few months ago, but it has been a sanity saver. I felt like I was getting to the end of what I could handle on my own. Before finding you all, I really felt like I was alone. Now I only feel that once in a while and when I’m away from the computer. *big hugs*
Happy blogoversary, Mel! Thank you for five years of wisdom, laughter, and hope.
(PS: Josh’s post made me weepy. What a sweet, supportive husband you have.)
Happy blogaversary and isn’t Josh a love too!
Happy blogoversary. I, like so many others, am incredibly grateful you are here.
So, I just have to say…I hope I make it to my 5th blogoversary because I just jumped past my 1 year blogoversary and i feel like i cant keep my head above water long enough to keep it going. I hope I can learn from your blog and keep this going because I love the connection it brings with so many other people. Congratulations!! (Your husband is a doll!!)