Seven Years Blogging…

Seven years ago today, on April 7, 2010, I wrote the very first post on Curtains are Open. I wasn’t sure what I was doing or why I was doing it…I just knew that I needed to chase a dream and see if it really was everything I thought it would be.

You see, I’d wanted to be a writer for as long as I could remember…and blogging provided the opportunity to finally spread my wings.

Fast forward to a year later, and I wrote my first “Happy Blogiversary” post.

I can’t begin to tell you how important this blog is to me…first because I love to write, second because I feel as if I’m being heard…that I belong…that people care and in some small way, that I’m making a difference.

It still remains true to this day…I believe wholeheartedly, that we all just want to be heard. That we want someone to listen to us…to tell us everything will be ok. To make us feel “normal” when we’re unsure of who we are. We all need to feel like we matter to someone…especially when we feel so incredibly alone.

I also wrote, “I delete a lot of curse words before I hit the publish button,” but funny enough, I don’t curse as much as when I first started writing…maybe I’ve matured. Or maybe I’m not quite so angry anymore.

By the time I celebrated my 2nd Blogiversary, my writing was changing as I was finding my stride with my voice. I’d also discovered this audience that was behind me…who I truly and honestly felt I owed the world to.

I thank you! For being there…for listening…while I’ve poured my heart, made fun of myself, offered advice and told you about things that tickle my funny bone. While I’ve worked through some of my most difficult days…I needed you. Each time I stepped into the courtroom, the day I signed my divorce papers, when The Tall Blond left for university, when I lost my grandmother, broke my hip, returned to school…when the kids crashed the car, Bones fell off her horse and Spiderman had his concussion…I needed you.

I was writing because I HAD to. I needed someone to talk to. I was COMPLETELY LOST as I was rebuilding my life and counted on every single bit of encouragement to get me through each and every day. YOU, the people reading these posts, you were the people I turned to at the end of the day to help me get to the next one.

Ironically, you said I “inspired” you…you truly thought I was a whole lot tougher than I really was!

By my fourth year of blogging I’d returned to school, graduated and started a new company…I was beyond exhausted but rebuilding like nobodies business. I was telling my stories and finding my way in the world…things had drastically changed in my life and I was trying to figure out where I fit…where one story ended and the new one began. I was finally writing more about the present than I was about the past…re-discovering who I was along the way.

We all have a story. Every single one of us carries in their heart moments of love and loss…our fears, our joys, our greatest accomplishments and deepest failures. These stories…who we are…it’s what binds us to the past and propels us forward.

And here I am today…SEVEN YEARS after I first pounded out the “Here I Go” post and started writing as a hobby…this blog has turned into a full-fledged business. I support my family from my blogging and design work. I partner with amazing brands who support who I am as a person and want to be part of the stories I tell. I support other bloggers as a partner with ECM Media along with two amazing women I’m blessed to call friends. I’ve met fantastic people who are also making their way in the blogging/influencer world and have had multiple adventures because of my writing. I absolutely love the work I do…every single day is something entirely new.

While this all started out as a “Mommy Blog”…with children who were 17, 11 and 10 at the time…it’s now a blog about my life with these three responsible, mature, amazing adults who are proud of what I’ve built…while telling stories about how much I adore them!

While I started out with a few readers…I now have thousands of people who pay attention to Curtains are Open…some I’ve had the pleasure of meeting in real life! Many, I call friends. All of you…I depend on.

I found my voice through this blog and as dramatic as this sounds, I got my life back through telling my story. By saying things out loud…I was able to move forward.

I wasn’t sure what I was doing or why I was doing it when I first started Curtains are Open…I just knew that I needed to chase a dream and see if it really was everything I thought it would be.

It’s everything…and so much more.

xo
Queen