We are a community.

When I started this blog back in January, I had no idea what I wanted to do with it. None. A friend suggested it, I thought that it sounded like fun, and so I did it. While I am nowhere near a big blog, I am always surprised at the number of people who follow what I have to say.

Of course, some of them are my friends or family, and they probably follow me because I told them to. Some are friends of theirs. I look at the lists of people who follow this blog and most of the time, I can't figure out who in the heck they are.

As I started following other blogs, those bloggers started following me back. That's kind of cool. :)

(I'm going into Vague Mode for a little bit - bear with me.)

Right after I started blogging, I started following the blog of a certain celebrity. I noticed that the followers of that blog would not only comment on the blog, but would also have conversations amongst themselves and had formed a tight little group of friends - all through comments on a blog.

Of course, by commenting on a blog, it leaves a link back to your own blog in your profile. So as I joined in on this little group of commenters on the celebrity's blog, the other commenters saw my blog and I saw theirs - and some of us started following each other.

One of these 'blogging friends' made the announcement that her 34 year old daughter had been diagnosed with colon cancer. 34 years old? She's younger than I am was my first thought. She has kids was my second thought. She has started going through chemo, but as anyone knows, it's not a cheap process - especially when there are travel expenses involved. Her mother blogged one day about some tshirts that had been made - friends and family members bought them for 2 reasons: to help defray expenses, and to show her daughter (through photos of them wearing them in front of their houses) that regardless of where they were, they were fighting the fight with her.

Of course I got one. Why wouldn't I?

The majority of the blogs that I follow are parenting blogs - and I love how we have gotten to "know" each other. Whether through comments on a particular post, or through conversations on facebook, we learn about each other. We support each other through the rough times, celebrate during the good times, and amuse each other when we are bored. We ask for and offer advice on everything from potty training to getting more followers and everything in between.

I never expected any of this when I started. I remember my friend saying I bet you can get 30 followers in no time at all and I laughed at her. I never expected to become part of a community like this. Hell, I never thought that anyone would even read anything that I had to say.

But it has happened, and it's real, and I love it. I am thankful for the bloggers (and followers) who I have "met" during this process. I look forward to meeting some of you in real life at some point (no, I'm not a crazy stalker - but a few of us have talked about getting together).

And I'm just happy that we can support each other like we do.

NOTE: I went into Vague Mode to protect the identities of my friend and her daughter as they go through this difficult time in their lives. If either one of them chooses to reveal their identities, that is up to them. I won't do it, and would like to ask that our mutual friends not do it either - leave it up to them if they want to do so. Thanks!