Average Jane Appreciates Her Readers

The Other Mother came up with the brilliant idea of declaring today Blog Reader Appreciation Day. There are options for doing the appreciating:

1. The Madonna Option:
   Write a post thanking your readers for putting up with your foibles,
   mistakes, and eccentricities (a list) and being loyal to you (your
   blog) no matter what.
2. Write a tribute to your 5 most avid commenters.
3. Share some of your favorite comments ever posted to your blog.
4. Giveaways and free prizes to loyal/lucky readers are always fun.
5. Thank your readers in any way you want.

I’m going to go with #2. I love the idea of recognizing people who have been reading for a long time and deserve special mention. Most notably, all of the readers I’m about to feature have been commenting almost as long as I’ve had my blog, yet I’ve never met any of them in person.

• Keith of The Sturdy Soapbox and Sandal and Soxer has been reading my blog since the very beginning and still comments almost daily. Back when I was still hanging onto my anonymity, I accidentally outed myself to him via Facebook, so now we’re friends there and on Flickr, too. Someday I hope to go to the UK and meet Keith face to face. In the meantime, I’ll just say "hi" from here.
• Rozanne of Ragwater, Bitters and Blue Ruin is another commenter from way back. She takes beautiful photos and her writing is always entertaining.
• Joolie of Oh, My Stars and Garters is not only a long-time reader, she is also an artist who has  supplied me with my favorite note cards and t-shirt. Anyone who has a pet cactus named Mr. Pointy is okay by me. I’m totally looking her up if I ever manage to get to Austin for SXSW.
• Suzanne from Suburban Lesbian and I have been reading each other’s blogs for so long that it feels like we’ve met. Perhaps someday our paths will cross in real life.
• Stacie, formerly of Raspberry Latte, still keeps up with my blog even though she has shuttered her own. You can still find her on Etsy.

It was really fun going back through my posts from 2004 to see who’s stuck around all this time.

I’m thrilled to have all of my readers coming by to keep up with the mundane details of my home life and hobbies. Whether you were my friend B.B. (before blogging), I met you through one of the many groups of bloggers to which I belong, or you just found me randomly, thanks so much for making this whole thing so much fun!