Four years of blogging

Four years ago, I put up my first post.  It wasn't very good, but I put up better ones, and within a couple months had found my blogging voice.  Posts from September and October 2008 sound remarkably like posts today.

When I started blogging, I had no idea what to expect.  Somewhat arrogantly, I wanted to get a million hits in the first four years.  Well, that didn't happen.  It's not the hits.  It's not even being "the Mighty Borepatch" (I giggle when people call me that).  I didn't understand what the real rewards of blogging are. 

I do now.  Almost 200 of you have me in your RSS feed.  You've collectively left almost 20,000 comments here (!).  But more importantly, you have been there to share the good times and the griefs over the last four years.

Most recently, I found myself nearly a thousand miles from my family for a year, but I wasn't alone in that little apartment in Austin.  You guys kept stopping by, even when I didn't offer you so much as a beer.  And I don't even think I've said "thanks".

I don't think I have the words to say what this has meant to me.

And this is the realization I've had, on blogger burnout.  It's said "I do this for me, not for you", but I'm not sure that's right for me.  I think I'm a little better at answering comments than I used to be, although not as good as you deserve.  I shall try better, because this is what I've found the rewarding part of blogging.

I've met a bunch of you, and hopefully will meet a bunch more.  Because it's finding other people who are good company.  People who you can learn all sorts of things from (shooting and reloading for starts; thanks Mark).  People who share the good times and the bad, who come back even after the goofy dispatches from Planet Borepatch.

I'm grateful, more than I know how say.

Of course, that didn't stop me from putting up a thousand words.  This is the Mighty (wordy) Borepatch, after all.