Lubbock Pics + Blog Lurking

During our trip to Lubbock this past weekend we had so much fun! Kate absolutely LOVED the hotel - especially the indoor swimming pool. We also went to a Lady Raider game, Chuck E Cheese, a variety of our favorite places to eat in Lubbock, the mall, Smyer to see Mamaw & Papaw, and more.

While we were in the mall I saw a set of familiar faces. Normally when I see someone I know I would wave or acknowledge them somehow, but this time was different because I knew them without having ever met them: I "know" them because I read their blog. We definitely live in a technological age that brings us closer in many ways, but it also turns our normal methods of relating into something different than ever before.

This is sad to admit, but I'm a recovering blog lurker. Only in the past few months have I felt brave enough to start leaving comments on blogs to let the writers know I'm reading - and I'm still working hard on being comfortable commenting on a blog when I don't actually personally know the person whose blog I'm commenting on! I love to check out the links to other blogs people list in their margins. If the blog they've linked to is interesting, I subscribe to it - and after a bit of time I forget how I even stumbled upon those blogs. This is the case with the couple I saw in the mall. Someone I know has to know them and have their blog linked off theirs in order for me to have found it, but I have NO IDEA who that person is.

What is appropriate blogger etiquette in those sorts of situations? Because I'm a recovering lurker I felt the urge to identify myself in the mall, but because I'm embarrassed to know so much about their lives without ever meeting them or knowing how I found them I chose to step back into the shrouds of my blog lurker attire for that moment. And even if I wasn't embarrassed to identify myself as one of their long, lost blog readers, how would they have responded to having some strange person come up to them in the mall, call them by name, and ask them how one of their personal life situations was going?!?

This exact scenario is why I was hesitant to start blogging myself. The idea that there are people reading my blog that I'm unaware of is a little unnerving yet exciting to me! Especially when I think about the fact that I could be walking with Kate in the mall and someone see us and realize they know us from my blog!! I'm typically a very private person - as my friend Carrie likes to say: I'm content to introduce myself as Amy from DFW and leave it at that. So blogging is a major step out of my comfort zone, but it's something I'm glad Cody kept encouraging me to do until I took the plunge and started doing it!

So my basic communication today is this: if you ever see me in the mall and you only know me from my blog, please feel free to approach me and say hello. It may catch me off-guard, but in order to make this technology a bit more personable I'll swallow my uncertainty and marvel at how we can build relationships with people we wouldn't have otherwise had an opportunity to meet!

Or if you aren't ready for that type of face to face interaction, take a smaller step: emerge from your blog lurking shadows, click the comment button below this post, and leave me a little note so I'll know you're there.