Five Years Ago…

Five years ago today, I published my very first blog post.

It was a first of many… and wasn’t really all that kind to the previous owner… and I had a lot to learn about blogging. But what I also didn’t know at the time was how random and wonderful this journey would have been.

I took a little time to reflect today on my “blogiversary” — the significance of it, the simultaneous ridiculousness of it, and in between — and ultimately, all I could come out with was grateful.

When I started this blog, it was an honest-to-god way of preventing what had happened so many times before. Each time I went out to dinner with a friend, I would tell them a new house story. All of the cat fights, and found fingernails, and learning what to call bug shit, and everything. But I would forget which friend I told which story to, and that led to me being the annoying friend telling the same story twice. Or three times. So when one of these friends suggested that I simply tell them online, much like blogs that I had admired and was learning from already, I thought I’d give it a shot.

And now, five years later, I’ve gone beyond yellow ceilings:

And disgusting, seemingly random lessons I never really wanted to learn:

And it even led to a new job.

And in the end, I decided that all I really wanted to say was thank you.

Whenever I meet with a large group of other bloggers and “talk blog” — a rare, but necessary indulgence in an industry that always feels somewhat lacking in terms of legitimacy outside of the blog world — I hear a lot about stats, and growth, and revenue, and strategies for turning this passion into something that can be done full-time. And I support that thought. Passions should be pursued. And learned from. And allowed to flourish.

But one of the things I wish I heard more were stories about you guys. About one reader making an impact on a blogger, and how the conversation is changed from that point.

As a blogger, I hear a lot about “blogs are dying,” and “people don’t comment anymore,” and whatnot. But for me, I haven’t seen that happen as much. And I think it has a lot to do with you guys. I love it when you care, and even when you don’t. I consider this my little tiny corner of the internet to have a conversation, and much of that involves the necessary component of YOU being a part of it.

So, five years in, I just wanted to say my thanks. I may not make everyone happy. I may not always meet the expectations that come with the Pinterest world we live in. But that’s not always the point, and I love that I get to have this little tiny corner of mine to make others feel like there’s someone else out there experiencing this DIY chaos that we’re simultaneously going through. Yes, in fact, there is another person who had to learn that caulk needs a caulk gun. And yet somehow, with a little elbow grease, her kitchen went from this:

To this:

So, for what it’s worth: thank you. Thank you for reading along. Thank you for commenting. And thank you for all of the other shit that can’t be articulated when I’ve had two glasses of wine. ;) Cheers to five years!

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