My Retrospective on Active Rain Commenting

Part of my daily habit is commenting on post at Active Rain. I started blogging and commenting regularly a year ago while I was in cancer treatment in Houston. As I was commenting on post today I felt more emotion in not only my responses, but in how the post affected me. As I went from pricing historic homes to did I make a ndiffernece in people's lives today, to shedding materialism to live a simpler life, I was moved my the people who wrote them. They cared enough about sharing "secrets" with others they never met, they were telling family stories, and some were talking about epiphanies that changed their lives. Not one was a ego oriented look at me post like some I read. Or was it me that was different. So I made a decision. That time in Houston was awful, but my connection to the outside normally functioning world was my comments on Active Rain post, and the remarks back about what I said. In this year I only remember one unkind response. Considering that I have commented over 2300 times in less than a year, I think that is a great percentage.

So what about the decision? Since I love commenting soemtimes even more than posting, I am going to go back to November 2008 and start reading all of them. I want to see where I started and how I ended up today feeling very emotional. I will do a post after I finish, and hopefully have some conclusions to share. One comment I would like to give to the 2309 post I commented on is this. Last year I was fighting for my life, and it was a fight it looks like I will win. I go back to Houston in December to have all my scans done which will tell the tale, and I am confident. What I want you to know is what you meant to me. You have busy lives, and you may not think about the impact you are having just by sharing your thoughts here. This goes for all the post I read without commenting too. You connected me with your wonderful, and sometimes awful world. You gave me responses of hope, sometimes disagreed with my conclusions, but always treated me with respect. You can't ask for more than that from a community. Just don't ever think that even with a rant you are not making difference in someone's life. One of the reasons I am still here is because of my connection to you and your responses. If you want to know how I feel about you and how countless others feel about you click this link to Lou Gehrig's farewell to baseball speech. I couldn't have said it better.