Community

I can honestly say that I am so happy to be back.  Having been away from blogland for 10 days really made me evaluate why I blog.  Fave Cousin says I have an addiction, but I don't think that is it.  The reason I blog is community.

Webster's Online defines community as such:

Main Entry: com·mu·ni·ty

Pronunciation: \kə-ˈmyü-nə-tē\
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural com·mu·ni·ties
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English comunete, from Anglo-French communité, from Latin communitat-, communitas, from communis
Date: 14th century

1 : a unified body of individuals: as a : state, commonwealth b : the people with common interests living in a particular area; broadly : the area itself c : an interacting population of various kinds of individuals (as species) in a common location d : a group of people with a common characteristic or interest living together within a larger society e : a group linked by a common policy f : a body of persons or nations having a common history or common social, economic, and political interests g : a body of persons of common and especially professional interests scattered through a larger society

2 : society at large

3 a : joint ownership or participation b : common character : likeness c : social activity : fellowship d : a social state or condition

I feel like here, I can say what I feel I need to say and not be judged.  Somedays I go deeper than others.  Sometimes I'm mouthy and fed up.  Often, I'm just having fun.  I am proud of what I do here.  I am proud of what I write here.  I am proud of the friends I have made here.  I am excited to make more!

As my blog grows, I feel my community opening up in other ways, too.  I have featured posts at Life 2 Us, contribute to Lose It Bitches, I am on The Mom Bloggers Club and have joined many groups there.  I have joined The Lady Bloggers Society, frequent The Secret is in the Sauce a.k.a SITS and hope to one day have my blog featured there.  I also take part in the social networking community, Twitter.

I'm sure we all have our different reasons for blogging.  I know that when I first started, I didn't think about the community side of it for a second.  Community, however, is what keeps me coming back.  If you are currently a follower, thank you!  To my regular commenters, thanks so much for your regular gift of validation.  (Seeing that I am outnumber 2:1 by ungrateful monsters, the daily validation makes me warm and fuzzy.)  If this is your first time swinging by, thank you to you, too.  I truly hope you come back!  I do my best to respond individually to each comment via email, so if you have noreply set up, that make me a sad panda.  I love to write back and thank you for being a part of my day!

To show the world how important my blogging community is to me, I had my friend Tamara at Cheapskate Designs create this awesome Community Button!  Show the love, take it, post it in your side bars, and show the world that you are part of a community!  The blogosphere is a virtual world in which we build our own communtiy through comments and unity.  Spread the love!

<a href="http://onlyparentchronicles.blogspot.com/2010/04/community.html"><img src="http://i1016.photobucket.com/albums/af288/CheapskateTam/community4.png"/></a>