We have been blogging now for over 12 years with our first post coming out in February 2014. We had sold our house, 90% of our belongings and were weeks from going on the road in our RV. That first post received one comment. The following week, our next post received 3 comments. Over the next 12 years, that one reader has been a faithful reader as far as I can tell, commenting on each and every blog.
Who was this reader you ask? Surely it was someone who knew us, a family member or a good friend who wanted to follow along as we went on our big adventure. Oh, contraire. Bloggers out there know family members rarely comment on your posts. This reader was someone I had not even met (yet), but was a likeminded traveler/blogger, traveling the country with their spouse.
That got me to thinking... who are the top 5 commentors who have been consistently reading and commenting on our blog as I went back to 2014 and took a look. Most, of our commentors were and continue to be fellow bloggers; some were travelers like us, others were living a "normal" life and blog about their weekly lives. I have a loose rule that if someone comments on our blog, I in turn read their blog and leave a comment. Some of these "relationships" have continued for over a decade.
Going back and reading those early posts brings back a lot of memories and a lot of questions. The memories were from the many adventures and new experiences we had back then. The questions came from wondering where some of these bloggers that stopped blogging were today. Some wrote a farewell post saying that they were moving on to another chapter of their lives and were no longer going to blog, others just disappeared into the mist. I sometimes learned that the blogger had passed away, many times I have no idea what happened.
So, who is this reader that has stuck with us for over 12 years? Let me start by telling you the top 5, all of whom are or were fellow bloggers. #5 is none other than the infamous Dino and Lisa who first started commenting in March of 2015. He has been enamored by my writing ever since and anxiously awaits our posts each week. He still blogs once in a while, but he has a hard time putting a coherent sentence together but once every month or two when he is sober enough to post one.
#4 goes to Steve and Dianne who started in January of 2015. These first two we met while we were on the road and started reading each other's blogs. They still blog consistently every few weeks about their adventures in Canada and abroad.
For the remaining 3, we read each other's blogs but not met. We have met each of them since them, but in some cases did not meet in person for years. #3 belongs to good friends Jim and Diana. We have been following each other's blogs since December of 2014 and have since met up numerous times over the years here in South Dakota, Michigan and Florida to name a few. In fact, the first time we met them is when they were passing through South Dakota and stopped to see us!
#2 is John and Pam, they have since stopped blogging but continue to read ours. We have been able to get together with a couple of times over the years and are a great couple. For those of you who know John and Pam, you understand that this first picture is the perfect picture of the four of us.
#1....drum roll..... is Debbie and Steve! We found each other's blogs in 2014, and I would venture to say we have commented on each other's blogs since then. In fact, I bet if Debbie were to look back, we are probably their most faithful commentors.
So many good friends, so many good memories. Hopefully decades more to come. Who are your longest commentors? How long have they been with you? We will stop blogging someday, Lord willing, by my own choice with a farewell post, but who knows....
Four more weeks!
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