The Trouble with Not Blogging for Ages is

that the people who used to visit you on a regular basis have forgotten that you're around anymore.I'm sure that when my blogging slide (for lack of a better term) first started, visitors checked in more often. Checked in and quickly checked back out because there was nothing to see, nothing to hear, nothing to laugh or cry about. And who could blame them really? I mean, we all know it's boring when you never get any news, right? It's just downright dull to see the same old stuff over and over with rarely any new content added. But then it got even worse than mere boredom. Horrible tragedy struck and I couldn't seem to make myself post much and that which I did post was steeped in sadness and heartache. Let's face it, it's kind of a downer when a blogger only seems to post bad news for months in a row. A severe lack of joy and sunshine can start to wear a person down after a while, eh? And what happens when you wear your blog readers down?
They stop coming around, that's what. Perfectly natural, of course. Doesn't mean it's not a bummer, though, 'cause it is. So somewhere between boredom and sadness, I've managed to chase away many of the blogging friends with whom I used to "converse" on a regular basis. Admittedly, all completely my own fault. So many people reached out and I couldn't bring myself to answer. I was just too down and depressed. Took awhile to work through that. And now that I have, I've been making an effort to post almost every day, trying to get back to my old self. Plus I've been making a bigger effort to visit my fellow bloggers and read up on what's going on in their lives. And yet, while I know for an absolute fact that I have been an awful blogger and blogger friend almost this whole entire year, I still can sit here, look at the dearth of comments on my posts and ask myself "why doesn't anybody read me anymore?" I am the very definition of hypocrisy! I assure you, I really do understand the concept of "cause and effect". Just not as it applies to me, apparently. It's all a give and take and I've been taking far more than I've been giving in recent history. Understanding all that, however, isn't keeping me from feeling...a little left out, I guess. I miss sitting down at my computer and seeing several comments at a time. You know what that makes me, right? A comment junkie. Eeeck! I thought I was over all that. I thought I had grown. I thought I was blogging just for the sheer joy of it. Well (*blowing a big raspberry*), perhaps I have a little more work to do before I can honestly claim that because I sure miss hearing from everyone!

Which brings me to what this post truly should be about...thanking those of you who are still around...Vee, Lynne, Joan, Kat, Terri, Mary, Sandy, Sandi and Sandi, Kari and Pat...thank you, ladies, for stopping by and saying hello as often as you have. I appreciate your friendship and thoughtfulness. I hope to be seeing much more of you all in the future...especially on your blogs, where I've been so very lax in visiting up until fairly recently. I finally figured out that Blogger Follower thing and have hooked up with most of your blogs so that I can know when you've posted something new. (This is a great feature. I feel like I've been out of the neighborhood for a few months and all the cliques have moved on without me! Now I can catch up a little better. lol)

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and - any of you intrepid souls still hanging around reading this - brace yourselves for a slew of camping photos to be posted next week. We're off into the wilderness this weekend! See you guys soon! (God willing and the skeeters don't carry us away!)