Please Come Again!
I’ve lost my first loyal reader.
It was bound to happen. Sooner or later.
I have to say that I’m a little disappointed.
Actually, she’s probably not the first, but she’s the first that I know of firsthand.
This particular reader is a local friend as well, and earlier this week she called to invite my girls and me to join her and her two sweeties at a park. She suggested that we go to a nearby park, since I “would be walking” (i.e. no car). But I wouldn’t necessarily be walking, because now I have a car.
She didn’t know.
She had not read my blog. (sigh.)
How did I know? Well, being the blog-addict that I am, I blogged about our new minivan the very day that we got it.
That was Saturday. This is Thursday.
Had she read my blog in 6 days, she would’ve known.
It’s strange, really. I’m not hurt or offended. I didn’t really expect her to regularly read my blog to begin with, but I have been delighted to know that she did. And she liked it. But now she’s not reading it. (or at least, reading it regularly.) Which is okay. Really.
I just think I’m a little disappointed. That’s all.
Well, and I’m also wondering what it was that made her stop reading my blog.
Time? (After all, you will not find the “soul of wit” [brevity] on my blog!)
Subject matter?
Do I write too much about my faith, and it’s a turn-off?
Am I too preachy?
Too much information? (always a risk on my blog)
Is it just too daily?
Did I write something offensive?
Maybe she just got bored!
Who knows? I would SO like to ask her, but I never will because it’s just too personal. And none of my business, really.
The great thing is that she has chosen to have a real-life friendship with me. Blog or no blog. And that is just too cool for words. She was once a complete stranger at the Waterford pool, and now I see her close to once a week, and AT LEAST every 2-3 weeks. I love her company. She’s fun. And smart. And we get along really well. I really just adore her.
I’ve decided that I have a choice in how I “take” this new knowledge.
Have you ever seen one of those red and white signs that hang in the doors of local retail stores and diners? On one side it says, “Yes We’re OPEN. ” and on the other side it says, “CLOSED. Please… come again!” 
I’ve always loved seeing those signs as I exit the establishment I’ve just visited. I NEVER notice the “Closed” part. I always see the “Please come again!”…and I think, I think I will! It always strikes me as really hopeful of the merchant; they want me to have had a good experience with them, and they want me to want to come back. But it’s not expected or demanded. Otherwise, the sign wouldn’t say, “Please.”
I feel the same way.
I hope my blog readers have a good experience here. I hope you get what you need or want (whether it’s a laugh, an encouraging word, or a reminder that you’re not the only one struggling!) while you’re here. You don’t have to stay, although I’d love it if you did.
If you do have to leave, I hope you feel free to come again. As often as you like. And when you come again, I hope you’ll find what you’re looking for. And, don’t worry. I’m not closed.
Please…Come again!
Filed under: General, Catbird, Local Color, Random Thoughts on March 17th, 2006
At ETech, the theme was “the Attention Economy”, and for good reason. We’re in a world where the biggest currency you can be payed in is someone’s attention.
Don’t lose heart though. Most readers are like boomerangs that come back from time to time. Some are out and back fast, others take intermittent and longer breaks.
Thanks for continuing to blog - I enjoy and appreciate your articles. And I’m proud of you for not getting discouraged, but instead having the “please come again” and “that’s OK, I’ll still pursue and appreciate our off-line relationship” attitude. It was so good to see you yesterday!!
Enjoyed your post. I hvae to say, I really do enjoy reading your blog and if I had more time, I would check it out every single day. However, I don’t even post on my own blog every day, though I want to, and I think about it….its so darned hard. Single parent, working full time, all of life’s activities..anyway, keep posting often as your posts are interesting and relevant to me.
Have a great day.
One comment I will make is a slight annoyance to me…I have some very good friends that I have told about my blog and some of them (a lot of them) haven’t even checked out my blog! The nerve!!! (slight tongue in cheek inserted here) - I mean, it does hurt my feelings a little that they don’t even peek at it. I mean, I just love reading others and if any of my close friends had one, I woudl look at it all the time. If for nothing else, to find out what is going on in their lives. But, some poeple just aren’t “computer people” I guess or aren’t bloggers. Its kind of a cult sisterhood type thing don’t ya think? I mean, some people are really into it and love it and others don’t even know what it is! I for one am IN! and I love it! and will continue to blog even if nobody reads it
I would feel the same way as you I think. you put a lot of yourself on the line with some of your posts, and make yourself vulnerable, so it can almost feel like a rejection. That you have spoken your heart in a group and that everyone has continued to talk over you. Well that’s a bit dramatic. You know what I mean though?
I wonder if it is the mentality that ‘well I know you and all that you do, so what new stuff am I going to learn from your blog?’
The attitude you have chosen to take is good. I have the same experience with some of my friends, most of whom are not on the computer at all.
I think it is so sweet your hubby looks at and posts on your site.
My man can’t really see the point I don’t think. ( and boy is he missing out! =)
You will know from site meter that I check you out daily to read the new blog and then later to look at comments.
I love your blog.
I love your blog Cathy and I have missed it the past few days.
Cathy,
You are right: real life relationships beat the heck out of online ones! :o)
Kelly
Thanks, girls (and Erik!), for all the support! And budding, I don’t know that you’re visiting, b/c I got rid of the site meter and haven’t reinstalled it. (Although I’ve been tempted!)I do know, though, b/c you’re such a faithful commenter! I love it!
Thanks also, Dana, for your comment and link on your blog.
Kelly: you bet, girlfriend!
Maybe, some friends are like me. I actually don’t like to come every day - I like to come and read several at one time. Even a week wouldn’t surprise me. (It’s part of my overall impatience - or is that lack of discipline? I don’t want to wait until next week to find out what happens, I don’t want to wait until the end of the book to find out who done it, I want to tell someone what I got them as a present if I get it to early. If I lived during Dickens time when he put out his story a section at a time, I probably would’ve started to stalk him. “What happens next?”)
But, then I do lose out in the comment stream and post way after the fact, etc. So there is that…
You may or may not have lost a reader, but you also found out at lunch that you have another reader … me. So I’ll quit lurking now and put out an occasional comment.
Thanks for joining us at lunch today. It was fun to be in the presence of the blogmaster! Matt and I will continue to strive for that new fruit of the spirit - blogworthiness.
Thanks, Russ. I had so much fun! And I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you read my blog!
As for blogworthiness…it’s definitely something to strive for. I may blog, but I’m not sure I’m blogworthy to someone else! We’ll just see, I guess.
[…] In the March 17, 2006 post entitled, “Please Come Again!”, I incorrectly stated that I had lost a loyal reader. As it turns out, my real-world friend has remained a loyal reader. She merely had significant real-world distractions that prevented her from checking my blog [read:relatives visiting from out-of-town]. […]