tuesday's true confession: the spirit is willing; the body is weak

On June 14, I celebrated the fact that twelve crafts reached 120 followers.

Today is September 14 and I'm approaching 700 by GFC and over 1000 total through GFC and feedreaders and e-mail subscriptions.  I'm still not sure how that happened.  

I'm surprised.

And I'm overwhelmingly thankful.

I'm thankful that I started this blog so a few random friends and family members could help keep me accountable for working towards my goal of making all my Christmas gifts . . . I'm thankful because something else happened . . .

I made new friends . . . bloggy friends . . . an amazing group of people that I proudly and thankfully add to the list of friends that I see face-to-face throughout the week.

Some of these friends are very much like me.  Some of these friends are very different from me.  But whether they are like me or different from me, they are indeed friends . . . you are friends.

And you became friends because you left a short comment on a post . . .

. . . and I replied . . .

. . . and you replied to my reply . . .

and I replied to your reply to my reply . . .

and before I knew it, we were discussing children, faith, family, calling . . . life.

Amazing friendships started because of a few replies.

And that's why I am kind of sad to be writing this confession today . . . because I know I might miss making a new friend through a simple reply.  

But I have to confess that I can no longer reply to every comment anymore.  Not because I don't want to . . . I do . . . I really do . . . but I can physically no longer do it.  The spirit is willing, but the body is weak . . . literally.  As I type this, I have my wrists and forearms wrapped in flexible ice packs.  This is pretty much the only thing that lets me type without discomfort, and so I've come to realize that I need to reduce the time I spend typing on the computer . . . which means I just can't reply to comments like I really want to.

I realize that your tendency will probably be to stop commenting, but I hope you won't.  I love your comments!  They make me smile . . . sometimes laugh.  They keep be inspired . . . sometimes when I don't feel very inspired.  They keep me committed . . . sometimes when I feel like quiting.

I will read and cherish every single comment left . . . 

but I will only respond by e-mail to comments that contain questions.

And I will ALWAYS respond to e-mails sent directly to my e-mail address.  

I'm guessing that most of you will understand.  I'm guessing that most of you, like me, have found yourselves in situations where you really wanted to do something but just physcially couldn't anymore.  Thank you for understanding!
 
And please . . . please . . . please don't hesitate to e-mail.  I do love starting new friendships!

Confess on!