A Year Ago Today

What a difference a year makes. It was one year ago today I wrote my first post. Unfortunately, very few people saw it. For some unexplainable reason, it disappeared into cyberspace. A techie I am not.

I was lucky enough to get listed on Bonnie's blog, http://bottomsmarts.blogspot.com/ on my very first day. I missed the salute to Bonnie day, but I will be forever grateful that she found me and felt I was worth adding to her list of spanking blogs.

Her blog and PK's blog, New Beginnings were among the very first blogs I discovered. I felt quite a connection with PK. I sent her an email and she responded. A friendship began and a blog was born. Thank you my friend for understanding and encouraging me.

Another friend, Sunnygirl at Aimless Ramblings kindly sent me the instructions on how to add pics to my blog. That was the advent of my signature, my faerie pics. I have just as much fun picking out the faerie pic for every post as I do writing the post. Thank you Sunnygirl for teaching this tech challenged girl a thing or two.

I've shared much about myself here over the last year. I've revealed secrets that seemed so dark they would never see the light of day. When I did, this community embraced me and cradled me in a cocoon of support and love. I've worked through issues that threatened to bring me to my knees. The constant comments of encouragement were sometimes the only thing that kept me going.

I've written 182 posts to date, I've had over 41,000 page hits. Some may not think that's a lot, but it's a lot to me. I am still surprised that anyone reads and enjoys what I write. The thought that I might actually help someone with my writing is something I never considered, but, once it was pointed out to me I find it very gratifying.

I've connected with people all over the world. I've formed friendships that reach beyond the pages of this humble place I've created. I've been given opportunities I never thought I would have. I've solicited opinions and bought and written reviews of sex toys based on those opinions. I've pursued vanilla interests that I wouldn't know about except that a blogger friend recommended them to me. I've been invited to write other places, about other subjects, as a result of my writing here.

I've gained strength and have experienced personal growth. My relationship with Musicman, while never bad, had stagnated some. It  has improved beyond anything I could have imagined. Our communication wasn't bad, but maybe was becoming a bit rusty. That is no longer true.

We've tried new things, we've pushed boundaries, the future is again, something to embrace. All because I found this wonderful community, a place that feels like home to me. For a woman who has always felt like an outsider where ever she went, that is huge. Thank you all for sharing this journey with me.

You give me strength to try, you give an ear to listen. You lend me your courage and strength through your wise, inciteful and sometimes funny comments. You offer frienship, not judgement. That is very precious to me.

I have no idea where the road leads from here, but I'm so happy to know that I don't walk it alone. Thank you doesn't seem enough, but, I'm at a loss for words on how to express how much all of you and this experience mean to me.