photo credit: @megabot via Unsplash
Today is my blogaversary. Today, this blog is 20 years old. I started writing in this space on April 15, 2004.
Technically, I have been blogging for longer than that but the blog writing space I had before was a) only for family and b) I have no saved evidence of these early writings (which were posted through Yahoo Pages. Does anyone remember Yahoo Pages? I vaguely remember what my page looked like, but I had no way to back it up and then eventually, I lost access to the site.)
I almost missed this huge milestone anniversary today. I knew it was coming up in April but only realized that today was the day! because I randomly checked for the date of my first post this morning. What a lucky coincidence.
Well, if I am honest, you can’t really call it a post, because it was just a single line:
Hi there…. I am just getting started… so bear with me.
But borne with me you have.
I know many of you haven’t been here since the beginning.
I think only a few of you might have been here for half the time. Trust me, it’s not worth going back to randomly reading what I thought was worthwhile sharing 15 or 20 years ago. Blogging was different back then. But the important thing to me is: I am still here and you’re here now, and you still believe in blogs and the community that comes with it. This blog has been such a huge lifeline over the years when family and friends were far away and I needed people to connect to.
Writing has always been the easiest medium for me to connect with people. I had my first pen pal in elementary school, a girl from England. I didn’t speak English then and she didn’t speak German but somehow we exchanged short and sweet letters (I am guessing now with the help of someone translating? I don’t remember, but I do remember that her name was Amanda.
Then I had many pen pals – tens and tens is not an exaggeration – through my childhood and teenage years. With a handful of them, I have kept up to this day (remember when I met up with my pen pal Cathy from Sydney in Las Vegas (twice) a few years back? We actually met up for the first time back in 2005, but I’ve known her since I was 15!). It’s powerful what the exchange of words can accomplish and the bond of our blogging community is another testament to that.
I would be terribly sad if any of you stopped blogging (but I think it’s pretty safe to say, judging from the record of some of your Internet writings) that the chances are slim that blogging will be dead anytime soon (contrary to what some people seem to want to believe).
I don’t have anything super-profound to say today other than that I am thankful for this space and the people in it. I am glad I stuck around. As you might have learned about me by now, I am nothing if not consistent.
Suzanne
April 16, 2024 at 6:02 amCongratulations and happy anniversary, San! What an accomplishment, to stick with something for so long! This is so well said: “It’s powerful what the exchange of words can accomplish and the bond of our blogging community is another testament to that.” I look forward to many more years of reading your posts!
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:35 pmThank you Suzanne. I am so glad our blogging paths crossed :)
Tierney
April 16, 2024 at 6:20 amHappy 20th! How exciting! I’m always amazed at how much happens within a few seemingly short years. I’ve been blogging since 2007- I love having the record although I agree, the earliest posts don’t need to be revisited too closely. I think the formatting and photos may have gotten distorted or lost in a few migrations.
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:35 pmWoo, you’ve also been blogging for a long time. That’s amazing!
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
April 16, 2024 at 7:42 amHappy Blogiverssary! Correct, blogging is not dead and it’s not going anywhere. It’s just gotten better with age.
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:35 pmYes, indeed, Birchie! <3
NGS
April 16, 2024 at 10:09 amHappy anniversary!!! My own 20th anniversary is coming up and it’s crazy how fast the time has gone by, but how much has changed.
You’re such a leader in our little corner of the internet and I’m so glad you’ve stayed consistent!!
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:36 pmThank you my friend, this means a lot and while I wished we would have met sooner, I am so happy our paths crossed and that you’ll also celebrate 20 years in a few short months. Crazy.
Bex_inMT
April 16, 2024 at 10:36 amCongrats, what an accomplishment. This actually prompted me to go back and look at how long I have been doing this. Thankfully I had pulled my original posts off of MySpace (yes, really) and moving them to my current platform. And I have only been reading since November, but yay! Congrats again.
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:36 pmMySpace, oh my! I remember those days… so you’ve been around for a while, too :)
Susi Kleiman
April 16, 2024 at 3:53 pmWow! 20 years in the same space. That’s amazing! Happy Blogiversary!!! I started my first blog in 2011 but it doesn’t exist anymore. I’ve also never been consistent – I start and I stop… maybe one day I’ll stick to an actual schedule. 🙃
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:37 pmThank you so much for stopping by, Susi! I appreciate it.
Nicole MacPherson
April 17, 2024 at 5:16 amHappy anniversary! What an accomplishment. I for one am so glad you’re here, and glad to be one of your bloggy pen pals! You bring so much to the blogging community and are instrumental in so many ways in connecting people. It’s really something to be proud of, San, and I’m proud of you.
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:37 pmThank you my friend, you’re very sweet. I am so glad our paths crossed here on the Internet! <3
Ally Bean
April 18, 2024 at 7:04 amHey I just wrote about my 20 year mark in blogging! You too, huh? Congrats! I agree with you: “the chances are slim that blogging will be dead anytime soon.” It’s too much fun.
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:38 pmYay, congrats to you too, Ally. 20 years. I wish I could have met you sooner, but so glad we eventually crossed paths!
Melissa
April 18, 2024 at 9:06 pmCongratulations, that is very impressive. I’m glad you stuck around too. without you, I wouldn’t have found such a wonderful group of bloggers.
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:38 pmThank you Melissa – so glad you’re here and that our blogging paths crossed!
J
April 19, 2024 at 4:32 pmCongratulations! I tried blogging once in 2000 I think, I wrote one post, and then forgot about it. Then I started for real in 2005. As you know, I found you through Engie in 2022, and then the rest of the Cool Bloggers through your NaBloPoMo, so YOU are my blogging hero. (Also Engie) Happy Blogaversary!
San
April 19, 2024 at 4:39 pmYay, Julie, so happy to know that you’ve been around for such a long time too! I wish we met sooner but so glad we eventually connected.
J
April 19, 2024 at 4:39 pmI just went back to my blog and found a post where I discussed that earlier blog…it was 2002, not 2000. And then I forgot about it until my IRL friends all started doing it. I went back to my 1 year anniversary post, and Ally Bean posted there! She is definitely my oldest blogging friend who still has an active blog. FUN.
Alyssa | waywardblog.com
April 20, 2024 at 5:49 amTwenty years! That’s so amazing – and a clear indicator on its own that blogging isn’t dead!
Elisabeth
April 24, 2024 at 1:56 amOh San, I missed this because of Feedly and I am so, so sorry! Better late than never to the party so I am sending virtual confetti. What an accomplishment!
I am ever so glad our blogging paths have crossed and wish you many happy weeks, months, and years of blogging ahead.
So many of my online connections came through NaBloPoMo, so thanks a million times over for hosting that <3
Sorry again I missed this; Feedly is the worst.
Lisa’s Yarns
April 27, 2024 at 6:08 pm20 years!! That is incredible! My blog turns 16 this summer! I have been reading your for 10 year I think if not more! I am glad you are still blogging – so many of the bloggers I used to follow aren’t!
Happy 20 years!!
Tobia | craftaliciousme
April 28, 2024 at 2:49 amCongrats San. 20 years us such an amazing milestone. You really are an early adopter of blogging but formost resilient one at keeping at it. I am so glad I am here for about half the time you are blogging.
coco
April 28, 2024 at 9:20 pmWoo! 20 years that’s a big milestone. I started in 2007/2008 and I feel like I am just getting started. I’ve met few bloggers in real life in earlier years, i hope I get to meet more in the future when I moved back to that side of the world again.
Have you changed in your blogging style? focus? topics? what have you learned after 20 years of blogging?
SHU
April 29, 2024 at 2:43 pmOmg you beat me – by about 3 months!!! I am contemplating ways to celebrate 20. How crazy is having two DECADES of life preserved in this way? Let’s go for two more!!!
Stephany
April 30, 2024 at 1:26 pmHappy anniversary, San! This is such a big milestone – I feel like I’ve been reading your blog forever and I’m so glad you were one of the OGs who stuck around!
Michelle
May 8, 2024 at 1:04 pmYay and Congratulations on 20 years of blogging! It’s delightful to read your posts, and I’m so glad to hear that you’ll keep on blogging. I’m hoping that more and more people will return to blogs as social media keeps getting more annoying!
Anne
May 10, 2024 at 4:12 pmSan, what a wonderful testament to your ability to connect, your excellent writing, and your innate joy that you bring to the rest of us. I hope you write for a long, long time. And I hope we meet long before the next 20 years are up. <3 Congratulations, my friend. (Also, dang it, Feedly…)