Four Years Later
Today marks my 4th Blogging anniversary. 1,442 posts in 1,460 days, not counting the half dozen or so I deleted for various ugly reasons.
Little did I know what I was getting into when I began writing in 2004. That was a time when I was lucky to sit down at home to check my e-mail twice a week. With the advent of my Blog, that certainly changed.
My Blog has provided a space to serve as a diary, an emotional dumping ground, a recipe file, and a travelog. If it were ever to be deleted, I would be hard-pressed to account for these past 4 years.
The beginning of my Blog coincided with a point in my life when I was making significant changes in an attempt to experience new things and reach out to people. Hence the title: Looking2live.
I have experienced the gamut of emotions with this Blog. There has been the high of connecting with great new people of all ages locally, nationally, and internationally. The beauty of Blogger is it knows no boundaries. Whenever my posts have been recognized by DC Blogs or WaPo Express or Wonkette, I have felt a thrill.
I have also felt the awful guilt that comes from saying something about a friend or family member and being called on the carpet. Although I can take pride that most of my posts are of a more positive nature, I have made mistakes more often than I should have. Most of those posts are long gone, but I still feel badly when I think about the incidents they caused.
I’m not sure 4 years of writing has made me a better writer. I’m certainly faster than I was at the beginning. I’ve learned how to incorporate photos. I’ve learned that shorter is usually better.
I gave serious thought to ending this Blog at this point, but I’ve come to realize that one of the things I enjoy most in life right now is staying electronically connected to so many people. So I guess Looking2live will go on doing just that, at least for now.
If I have ever touched your life with something I’ve written, let me know what it was. And thanks to my loyal readers – past, present, and future!
posted by Barbara at 7:59 AM
29 Comments:
hey barbara - so glad i caught your anniversary today
congrats.
:-D
It's so disconcerting when a favorite blog author ups an quits. Glad to know you will continue for a while anyhow. I can't name a particular post I'd single out - all your posts trigger some further thinking or encourage me to research something new or inform me in some way. I like reading your take on things. Reading here is like coming over for a cup of tea and a good chat.
happy blogaversary, happy blogaversary (I'm singing this, hope you can tell)... thanks for deciding to keep connected! it's lovely having you as a neighbor in the cyberhood!!
you have touched my life and heart many times since I started to read L2L - many thanks.
fyi - made my reservations for january. coming down to take part in the inauguration festivities. hope to see you while I'm there!
I`m so glad I found you, Barbara! Not that I find the time to read or comment on every entry (you are quite diligent!), but every post I have read so far has given me food for thinking and I have enjoyed every encounter with you! You are a very thoughtful lady with responsibilty and insight. Don`t stop writing! Cheers from Germany.
Barbara, congratulations on four years of blogging! I look forward to reading your blog daily and am delighted with your food for thought and often for table, too. You have an insatiable interest in discovery and exploration and a wonderful gift for articulating your experiences and the resulting deeper observations on life. Keep blogging for yourself and the rest of us as well!
I am very glad to have discovered your blog through DCblogs, and even gladder to have met you in person! Happy blogiversary!
Congratulations on your blogaversary! I am so glad that you are continuing. There is something very comforting to know what's happening on the "right coast"... and I feel like I'm just starting to you, your family, your husband... and it all started because I was attracted to your fantastic dog, Jake! (he's so photogenic!) Look at the terrific response you get from the people you have met along the way! We are all truly blessed. :::big hug::: Happy Blogaversary!
Barbara, there is a mouse version of the Victor trap. It is probably the best-seller version in America.
Congratulations on your anniversary. I'm very pleased to have met you through the blogosphere, and then in person.
Congratulations! It has certainly a worthwhile experience.
Congrats! I am so glad I found your blog.
It was from stumbling upon your blog that I learned what blogging was and eventually became inspired to start blogging myself. So thank you very much, and Happy Bloggiversary! I hope there will be many more.
heppy bloggoversary ! you're super!
Barbara, happy blogging anniversary! I'm very glad you're not abandoning the fun. :-)
Thanks to everyone for such a rousing round of support! I guess I'm committed to another year. I look forward to staying in touch with each of you!
Happy anniversary, Barbara! I don't have a favorite post; though, I do love the recipes. The accounts of your trips. The ways you keep growing and learning. The introduction to The Reading Connection.
Your blog is an important part of why I started blogging. That's led to some regrettable items, but it's also led to some truly wonderful ones. And the writing too.
Barbara, I've been reading your blog regularly for several months (not a blogger myself) and have gone back to read selected older posts. I especially appreciate your honesty, and hearing about your family and travels and recipes, and your quest to live an even fuller life.
You asked about how you've touched our lives...the posts that have "gotten" to me the most have to do with the loss of your (former) friend, in part because although they and I have never actually met, they cast an ongoing and (for me) profoundly unfortunate shadow into my life. More generally, those posts spoke to the tender heart in me and also stirred some memories of my own. I'm sorry for the sadness you feel, and may wisdom and compassion eventually prevail.
Congrats on the milestone, and I'm glad you'll still be writing!
Hey Barbara,
Happy Blogiversary. 4 years- wow, that's a long time.(Mine generally only last only about a year).
And, you're so prolific too....impressive.
Miss you,
Gewels
oH, bARBARA, i READ THE FIRST COUPLA PARAGRAPHS AND JUST STARTED (oops) started crying.
i mean what would you do without me?
And Me....!!!
What would I do without you, my first and most consistent commenter, you, who even though my post ain't real great, will say something anyway?
Do you know how many posts I have where you was the only one to read it all the way through?
I remember the first post I read of yours....you were gettin' ready to go into some kind of Spiritual Bath qwith a bunch of other women, an' you was cleanin' out yer belly-button and I thought
"ALL_RIGHT"
But not because I thought maybe some of yer pics would show up on half Naked Thursday or something but because here was a person soo proactive in their Spirituality and they were sharing it so simply....
Love ya Barb, just wanted to say it!
Let me just reiterate that my world has been so enriched by the presence of each of you here in my space and by what you write in yours.
Anon -- I feel a particular connection to you although I don't know who you are. I have been aware of your presence for the last several months and with any anonymous reader, I come up with my own guesses as to who you are.
My failed friendship has occupied so much of my writing (directly and indirectly) for the past few months as I struggle to understand what happened. There is not a day goes by that I don't think about my former friend and wonder what I might have done differently or whether this split was inevitable.
I don't pretend to understand "although they and I have never actually met, they cast an ongoing and (for me) profoundly unfortunate shadow into my life." If you feel like clarifying it, please contact me at barbara.diskin@verizon.net.
I welcome your presence and hope you continue to read what I write.
As I read this I thought you were going to write that you were ending the blog and was quite relieved to find I was mistaken. Whew!
Congratulations. Color me impressed with the sheer volume of entries (how do you find the time not only to write yours but comment on others)and on the content of your posts. Keep 'em coming.
xoxo
Gary -- I'm counting on your to keep my on my toes as far as children's books and reading go! You have such wonderful ideas!
Barbara - I don't know whether you ever saw this entry from back before we met, but it tells the story of how reading your blog led me to become a blogger myself.
Here's the link:
http://photo-cyn-thesis.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-i-discovered-blogging.html
Sorry I haven't learned how to make a real link in the comment section yet!
Blogging is crack - even if you decide to stop, you'll come back. Might as well just keep plodding along! Aim for 5 years...or 10!
Happy belated Blog Birthday. :)
Jessica -- Welcome back to the Blogosphere.
Steve -- Thank you. I have to meet you here since you have put your writing on hold!
Happy belated blogiversary!
I find your blog refreshing and thought-provoking and that's what keeps me "tuned in"...I read it way more than I comment, I am one of those sorts guilty of being a "sporadic commenter".
Which probably isn't very nice of me, since one of the things that keeps me blogging is the support of readers like you. Thank you for being one of my earliest supporters/commenters, and one of the most regular!
And oh...isn't it interesting that there are pieces of anon's comments that I myself could have written?
Aileen -- Thank you! And yes, are you sure you aren't Anon? Just kidding! But you are correct in your observation.
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