I Got Paid Today
Today, I was at the Ogden Museum for Southern Art and we were there particularly to see the Prospect 3 exhibit and while in one of the galleries a woman approached and said my name and told me she reads my blog. She introduced me to her S.O. and we all shook hands.
I’ve met a few people who have followed my blog over the years – strangers not friends, well that is until we met in cyberspace and became friends. One is Alice in Salt Lake City, who has been a supporter of mine. Another is Mudd in Canada who has been a kindred spirit as well. I’ve spoken with few people who read my blog. But every now and then I meet someone in real life flesh and blood who I’ve never met before and it has been remarkable.
I was at a friend’s party once and a woman came up who lives in New Orleans and said she knew me from my blog. A few years later, I was at another party and was speaking to that same woman and another woman I had just met and the first turned and said, “You need to read her blog, it’s worth it.” Twice this person – Leslie – paid me a compliment that she didn’t even begin to know the ramifications of – at both junctures I was ready to give up, and both times I ran into her and she told me this and it gave me faith.
I met another woman who is married to a college friend of mine – she told me that after the 2005 Federal Flood she was at home with a newborn and PTSD like all of us had and her husband told her to read my blog and she did and she said it was helpful. She didn’t know – Megan – that her words encouraged me to keep writing.
At the museum, when this woman approached while I was gazing at works by artists I admire, and told me she, a woman who lives in Santa Fe via New York, follows my writing, well, I have to say I was flattered – I don’t get paid for my writing with a million commentators like some have on their sites, I don’t get paid with posts going viral, my currency is that someone, somewhere found value in what I wrote.
Thank you, woman I will not name from Santa Fe – you made my day.
October 26th, 2014 at 2:19 pm
It’s always a gift and a treat to have you come into my home (my head… my heart) via your blog, Rachel. I’m happy someone got to say it to you “in person” — hope to do so myself, one day. And also give you a HUGE HUG. And have a few drinks. And enjoy lots of laughs. And DANCE! You are blessed, ma belle amie —-> so are WE.
LOVE
XOX
October 28th, 2014 at 10:04 am
Yes Mudd and you remind me of my blessings all the time. I think I get lost in a sea of random energy and it tugs me into so many directions but when I come back to me, I come back to us, and I come back feeling blessed. Maybe I should change my shero from Wonder Woman to Elastigirl.
November 3rd, 2014 at 7:01 pm
It was lovely to finally meet you. I’m glad it wasn’t intrusive — I’m still not entirely comfortable with the etiquette of blogging or responding to a blogger’s generosity by leaving comments, but I really enjoy your writing and find that much in your struggle to live compassionately and wisely touches me. Thank you again for sharing!
November 3rd, 2014 at 9:18 pm
Thanks again DeLisa – I still feel like the whole enterprise – blogging – is in a time of its own and it is unclear how long this time will last. I find in my other blog – transracialparenting.com – that people are want to leave comments galore on social media, but few if any comment on the blog itself, which tends to irk me because I like to save all those thoughts and retorts in one neat little place. Yes, maybe it’s about ownership – owning the feedback on your own site. More importantly, I don’t think that I get up daily and write for validation, I believe I get up daily and write because it is something I feel compelled to do. But when someone like yourself offers up validation, it is award winning currency. So again, I thank you. It was lovely meeting you both.