I've Gotta Be Me

I've been surprised time and time again over the last couple years by the number of folks who actually follow my blog. First of all, a heartfelt and genuine THANKS--it's always great to know that people appreciate your efforts! I am even more surprised, however, by the "who factor", as in, who actually reads my blog. Aunts, uncles, friends of my mother, former teachers...sometimes, after I've written a particularly..well, let's say "Pico De Gallo"-esque blogpost, I'm more than a little red in the face to find out that my ninth grade English teacher probably read it. While these more candid posts tend to receive a lot of attention ("What Not To Do When Making Pico De Gallo" is still my most popular post to date, as folks will still refer to it, now more than a year later), I have to admit that even I get a little weirded out from time to time. Have I offended anyone's delicate sensibilities? Maybe my aunt didn't want to know about Drunken TV Antenna Man's very frank discussions about misshapen syringes and his manparts. Then I get narcissistic and paranoid, thinking that certain friends who haven't returned my phone call after two or three days must have been completely horrified by the comparisons I made between labor contractions and sexual desire. I psyche myself out sometimes.

But what I've come to learn (and even appreciate, I guess) is that I've gotta just keep being me. The last 2 1/2 years of blog posts have been the true, unadulterated Lauren. It's not always (or even often, for that matter) pretty, but it's honest. And, I suppose if folks didn't like it, they'd stop reading.

So, my heartiest thanks (and apologies) to my aunts, uncles, friends-of-my-mother, former teachers and anyone else out there who is reading my blog and is getting a tickle (or a heart attack) from what I've written. Stay tuned...