I know, I read it on your blog

Alright, so I know that people read my blog. I have subscribers and followers and comments and a little thing on the side that tells me how many times the page is viewed (which does nothing to help me know who is reading it by feed, because those folks don't show up on statistics, and some days I look to those statistics for validation, you know?).

Ah-hem. Anyway.
Yes, I know that people are reading. Hello people! People like my mom.

That being said, there are some people that I didn't know were reading, or read before I thought they might have had a chance to (posting early on a Saturday morning... I don't expect anyone to have read that before a 2pm wedding...). So, imagine my surprise when sitting and chatting with friends after the lovely wedding we attended Saturday, and I heard a couple of times, from different people, "Oh yeah I know. I read that on your blog!"

I was... I don't know what I was. Pleasantly surprised is a start, with a side of mildly embarrassed for having been caught telling the same story twice, and also feeling both like a jerk for not knowing that they read it and also like a jerk if I had assumed that they did. Is there a word for that? Someone make a word for that as I'm SURE I'm not the only one who feels that way. I mean, I've been called out before for thinking that people who DO read my blog didn't--I inadvertently made someone feel like I thought they were a jerk for not reading... I had no idea that happened. Then I felt bad for making her feel bad and it was bad. For 30 seconds. Until we all got over it. I only mention it because it seemed thematically relevant. Right?

Is there blog etiquette for this that I'm missing? I'm new to all this, so you know, if I'm in the dark, someone please enlighten me! I'm not so self-deprecating that I think that NO ONE reads this. I get comments, which are rad, and I know that not everyone who reads will comment, because I know I certainly don't comment on everything that I read, but... pretty much unless I know your IP address by heart (spoiler: I don't), unless you commented, I'm going to guess that you didn't read it. Not out of spite or because you hate me, but because... well, I don't think I'm that important that you would INSIST upon reading everything that I write. The only person who is required to read everything is J, and he comments in "meat-space," which, I gotta say, as a term just ooks me right out. I get it, cyberspace-meatspace but... eeeewwwwww

So yes, thanks for reading and telling me about it, or reading silently. I like this thing. I never thought I'd stick with it, because I'm really bad at stuff like that, but somehow it's worked pretty well so far. And now some of my friends who live near to me and I do stuff with off-line have blogs too, and I've met people from the internet who are awesome. Really--they've given me advice and encouragement and opened my eyes to all sorts of crazy stuff: like cloth diapers, washing your face with oil, making your own laundry soap, giving up shampoo... Other non-hippy stuff too, but those are the ones that totally blew my mind. Real people, who don't seem crazy or extreme doing things that I never would have thought of because I thought I was too conformist or "normal" to do it...

That paragraph kind of got away from me. The point I think I'm trying to make is this: I'm really happy with this little space, and very grateful that I get to share it with all of you. Thanks y'all!