“Standing in one spot is like being in a revolving door that takes you round and round to absolutely no where.  Now I take that step.”  Jacqueline Oby  (Oby-Ikocha)  Jacqueline continued in her comments to say, “Step out of the revolving door and dare to fall forward.”   (revolving door)

I have Jacque’s permission to use her quote as well as my comment made in response to the quote.  My comment follows:

Your quote on the revolving door hits me hard. Sometimes I see my weekly activities as just a replication of the week before. But then upon a new look I see that I have taken a risk occasionally that has paid off. I love the rewards I get on blogging when I take a chance on making a comment to someone whom I do not know well then finding they understand me perfectly. You (Jacque) always understand my tongue-in-check, humor, or serious sides. I love joking with someone who knows I’m joking. A safe comment like “That’s nice writing,” seems dull at times. But I do that too, especially when I want to know someone and am playing it safe. Now to get to the stage of saying, “I want to know you,” is a much more risky. We often avoid being that vulnerable until we have had several little pleasantries. I enjoy you and your writing. See how much more personal, and true.

I want to give a big thank you to about 25 to 30 percent of my followers who are so kind to give me lots of comments and likes, and about that many more who make an occasional contact.  Contacts are inspiring and obviously food for the bloggers soul.  I have passed the 200 mark slightly for number of followers and I feel very grateful to have that many who are so great at encouraging me and sharing parts of your life with me.

I read about sixty blogs a day.  That is about as many as I can handle and really comment and give likes as I want to do.

The grandmother, teacher, and “old woman” in me draws me into wanting to give advice!  I reign it in most of the time.  That is where I see the risk of stepping out of the revolving door.  I read a short story today that had a character in it who seemed to have no purpose in being there.  I wanted to ask about it because I really wanted to know what I might be missing, but I didn’t take the risk.

I even feel a little risky about this blog. I know that some people want to blog because they like the anonymity it provides.  I respect that, but many bloggers are bloggers because they want to social interaction.  I want to know you, my dear followers, not just know about your writing, so I’m being a bit vulnerable.  I plan to keep reading, writing, commenting, and clicking the likes, because it is true that I like and respect you, my blogger friends.  See you around.  Thanks again for your input into my life.