The Evolution of "VFtBR"

Time to get around to doing the meme that Tish tagged me with at the beginning of the month. As soon as I read it, I sort of figured that she'd tag me for it. And I have to admit, it was intriguing. And hard. As I tried to come up with possible posts, I came up with no less than nine that could be included. I was able to whittle them down to the requested five, deciding that some of them were more along the lines of personal favorites, rather than blog shaping posts (including the Fuck You! post, the VDay'07 post, and the Michelle HNT). I may not do every meme I'm tagged for, this one was one I really wanted to try. So here I go...

The Meme: Choose five posts that chart the evolution of your blog, and then tag five people to do the same.

Well, to start evolution, you have to have a starting point. For me, that was January 15, 2005. My very first post was much like everyone else's. Unsure of what to do, or where to go.

I held off mentioning much of my family until about 4 months later, when I reported on the gathering on Mother's Day. And how we were going to divvie up my parent's furniture/art/property after their deaths. Sort of introduced the internet to the quirkiness that is my family. Since then, I haven't had any sort of problem posting their pictures, or telling family stories, or reminiscing about the old days. I'm unashamed to say that my family is as undysfunctional (???) as they come (wow--I think I just used a triple negative!).

A scant 10 days later, I suggested to my wide readership (of maybe 10) that they should do something called Half-Nekkid Thursday. Notice I said that they should do something like that. I decided to do one, just as a good faith effort, and hoped that I might get a bare shoulder or something from one of them. The surprise came when readers of their blogs joined in. I think we had 6 or 7 participants--at least 2 of them who didn't even know I existed! I cannot describe the meteoric rise that it took in the next few weeks. Unanticipated, to say the least. For as much as I don't want to be thought of as only HNT, I have to accept that without it, I wouldn't have the friends I do today, and frankly, neither would you!

In December of that year, the Carroll College Fighting Saints were headed to Tennessee to defend their 3-time NAIA National Championship. I had decided earlier in the year that if they made it that far again, I'd try to get down there for the game. But little did I know that I'd actually know people in TN! I told Tish (whom I had a bloggercrush on, but then again, who didn't?) that I'd come down if she were to accompany me to the game. She jumped at the opportunity, and plans were quickly made to have a party in Nashville on Saturday night, after the game earlier in the day. We had 11 fellow HNTers show up at the Nashville Hilton! And I met up with 3 others on the way down or back. Not bad for an impromptu decision! Why is this part of the evolution? It was then that I realized that I had made REAL friends over the past 6 months, that people actually wanted to meet me (and I, them), and that those people that hide behind the templates are living, breathing humans! And made me decide to meet as many bloggers I could, face to face (so far, 30 and counting!). It sort of changed the way I read other blogs.

The last post I'm including here was so personal, and so hard to write, that it's got it's own URL. This coming Friday marks the 1 year anniversary of the death of Betchacantguesswho. We have watched fellow bloggers lose their friends and family in a variety of ways, but Betcha was one of US. And it drove home even deeper that the friends we make online are as real as the ones we see on the street. It forced many of us to face some things that we had blissfully ignored. There will be more on this in an upcoming post, but it brought together a community of us in utter shock and grief that, to this day, is hard to face. And who would have imagined that?

So there you go. The five posts on this site (out of 938) that I think define what this blog is all about. A mix of humor, family, nekkidness, and pontifications. What more could I want??

As per my standard practice, I'm not tagging anyone, but feel free to do it if you're so inspired!