Dearest Reader

Today's topic for Blog Every Day In May is a letter to your readers, and I am coming at you live from Florida where I'm currently watching my little brother and practicing my parenting skills by sticking him in front of some cartoons while I blog. Major kudos to you parents who have children and also blogs. How is that done? Joseph (my little bro) had been watching his show for approximately two and a half minutes when he said to me, "how long are you going to be typing? Because if you're typing forever, there won't be very much fun time!" Touche, little man.

Dearest reader,

Yeah, you. I wanted to take a moment and thank you for stopping by here every day... or every week... or whenever it is you find time to stop by. It's hard for me to express just how much I appreciate that. Blogs are funny things, you see. We look forward to tuning into someone else's frequency for a moment of our day - to see what's happening with them, to look at their photos, to hear their thoughts. You start to feel invested in their story. It's easy, though, to feel like you don't matter. Like your comment is just one in a sea of them, like what you say won't be heard. I guess I just want to say that isn't so. Not here, anyway. Hearing from you is the best part of my day. I receive your little notes straight to my phone, and I check your messages and read every one. While I'm blow drying my hair, while I'm eating my lunch, while I'm waiting in line at the grocery store. You lift me up and give me confidence and make me think and make me smile and sometimes even cry. I don't respond every time (even though I want to), but I hear you. I want you to know you're heard. Even when you don't say a word, I see that you tune in, and that's enough for me. I appreciate you. I love getting to know you through what you tell me.  I learn from you. I feel loyalty to you and responsibility to you, and in some weird way, I love you. We're all in this together, this life thing, and I love this community we share. I just wanted you to know that. Sometimes maybe I seem like an unreachable entity through a screen, but please remember that I'm not. I'm just an email or a tweet or an Instagram away, and I truly love to hear from you. Thank you for your patience with me and your interest in my story and your kind words.  They mean so much to me. Thank you.

Love always,
Jenni