Gah. I have, like, 30 minutes to myself in which to produce some words for you to read here. It’s tough when my weeknights are all committed to something because then I don’t get things done at home and I don’t have the time to do the things I enjoy like blog and read and just hang out with my husband, me and him. So this isn’t very well thought out, but what’s been on my mind lately are these relationships that we forge online with each other.

I’ve been blogging for years, and even a few months ago there were very few other blogs I read that I connected to. I read blogs of personal friends (and still do) who rarely update and when they do just give a hurried summary of what’s happened in their lives since they last wrote. I read some of the popular bloggers who are great writers. But what I was looking for were more people like me: girls in their 20’s or 30’s (I’m not that far away from the next decade, after all) who love to blog regularly who I can relate to. I don’t know why, but I had a really hard time finding people like this.

I worked really hard at it, and I’m finally beginning to see a network of online friendships building. It’s a great feeling. Now I can usually find new people just by clicking through on a comment that I read somewhere. If that person looks interesting, I’ll subscribe to their blog. I’ll read it for awhile, and if I like it I’ll start commenting regularly. Usually this leads to reciprocation, which is the goal.

Most of my online friendships are still in the fledgling phase. That’s okay though, because they are growing. I can’t explain why blogging is so important to me, but it is. A lot of people go through phases where they just want to stop blogging forever. They take breaks. They go anonymous. They start new sites. I’ve had my own issues, and sometimes I feel too busy to write often, but I never want to quit. I know I’d miss it.