Hi Brittny,

I am one of those people who reads your blog but I have never commented. I’m shy! And I don’t live in OK or anywhere near it.  I started reading your blog on the nest and was so fascinated about your living in Kuwait and loved reading about your life there and have just kept reading ever since.  I hope you don’t go private but I totally understand if you do.  Just wanted to let you know that there are normal ( I guess I’m normal [removed]void(0) people reading your blog. Thanks for sharing.

I completely understand where you’re coming from.  I’ve only told my side of the family about my blog, but the other day I saw that someone in my in-law’s (teeny, tiny) town read my blog.  I wanted to pass out right then.  I really hope they aren’t reading it because I would feel the same.  Not that I talk about them, but there’s still stuff on there that I don’t want them to read.  Anyway, if you do decide to go private, don’t forget about me! 
And I think I’ve already told you this, but I’m in the Dallas area, hopefully that isn’t showing up as Oklahoma, but if so, that’s me.  (Though my cousin says I show up as being in Florida when I read her blog, so who knows.  How the heck do IP addresses work anyway?)

Yeah I’m private, so you know I know where you’re coming from!!  I was fine being out there for a long time, but then when we got OTHER people involved in my sharing....and now to think of going public with some of the honesty on there...ick.

You vented about this, though....so that’s a step to getting back to what you want this blog to be!  Hopefully a lot of people will come out of hiding and put your mind to rest!

I totally understand where you’re coming from!  No one I “know” in Calgary knows I even blog!  Not my closest friends, not even DH.  I have no idea what I’d do if they find out.  I’d probably pass out.

DH and I are pondering the idea of starting up our own little family-type photography blog, and while I KNOW it’ll be SO fun to do this with him, I also feel like I’ll have to censor myself because I don’t think I’d be able to post like I do on my OWN blog (I certainly don’t have the guts that Dooce does!)

I’m sorry people have judged you and said hurtful things to you because of your blog.  That’s not right AT.ALL.  Why is it that we can call ourselves “Godly” and then judge one another for decisions made?!  So not cool.

Thanks for venting

Well, I’m from OK, and I know you in real life, and you know I read your blog.  Hope you’re ok with that :D And seriously, I hope you don’t think that I’ve ever said anything in judging you and your decisions because frankly, I’m inspired by you and Will and the life you guys lead.  Anyway, I understand about wanting to make sure certain people don’t read your blog...I feel that way too, but my blog has such a small following that even though some of the people that read it are from our hometown, I doubt anyone I didn’t want to read it ever would...plus, I’m just not that interesting.  But I do hope that if you go private, I get an invite. 

Hey Britt—my thoughts on the public vs. private blogging are that it doesn’t really matter either way. Some people go private not because they have a penchant for eBashing everyone in their proximity but because there are people in their life that would use any and all info against them. For my part, I’ve never thought you guilty of oversharing or using people in your life as blog fodder. But you’re right, your style of posting requires a high degree of uninhibited transparency. The internet affords us a measure of distance between ourselves and others, and sometimes it gets a little too close to home.

My impression of you has been that you’re consistently respectful of family member, boss, old friend, coworker, stranger and husband alike, no matter what level of irritation you might exhibit in your posts. So I wouldn’t let an isolated incident allow you to get self-conscious. You’ve got thicker skin than that. Long live the public BLoveLife!

Exactly. Why. Mine. Is. Private.  I like being able to vent and fly the crazy flag when needed and not hearing about it later

Haha, I understand.  That is why I don’t have a blog.  I’d love for people who I don’t know to read my blog, but not anybody else.  And if I made a private blog, I wouldn’t get any readers

I completely understand your thoughts.  And it pained me to go private...however, you know why I had to.  Still, I wish I could be out in the public, and perhaps in a few more years I will, though I suspect I’ll be changing addresses to do so.  In the end, you’ll do what you need to do, and no matter what or when, it’s fine.

I’ve been contemplating the same thing....hence my MAJOR lack of posting lately.  It’s soething I need to pray about because there are so many places I want to go on my blog, but who really knows who is reading.  I don’t really care what other people think of me per se, but I want to be the real raw uncut me and I just don’t feeel like I can do that with my blog being open to the world....but you already know that because you said it yourself.  I’m with ya sister!

P.S.  I TOTALLY remember the nest days...it’s where we “met”!

You know.  I remember when you first started the blog, although I did not read it then, I had so much more going on in my life at that point that reading a blog was just not on any priority list.  Anyway, I don’t remember why I finally started reading, but it was while you were in Kuwait, and I am sure it had something to do with missing you and your mom and looking for some comfort, like home.  Like when you mom and I were working together and I was “taken care of”, getting to read about you and everything going on helped me to feel like I was still a daily part of your lives although thousands of miles away.  Now that you are back, I still enjoy reading because although we are only 80 miles apart, and you probably pass my street any time you come back to L-town, we don’t see each other. 

My life is so much better than back then, but I remember the good things from them, and although I am forgetting the bad things, I still want to hold dear those that were there for me when I needed them the most.  Thanks so much for sharing your life with us.

Hi!  I read your blog - started when you were Kuwait - and haven’t commented.  I did, however, email you once and tell you to use salt water in Will’s eye when he had pink eye.  Anyway, I love the blog and hearing about your life.  I’m not in Oklahoma.  I’m in Mississippi.

Ok ... you caught me ... I’ve been lurking for days, I must confess ... maybe even weeks ... and havent said hi!  I’m so embarrassed now! haha I changed jobs for various reasons and am again able to access the good stuff online I missed for a year.  So when you mention the good ol’ blog days of plugging up the toilet and finding your old lunch in the frig, yeah I remember those original posts without even reading them again. Just wanted you to know of my presence so IF you do go private you know I’m there lurking in the shadows.  Muah-ha-ha-ha (<<- evil laugh)

Have a lovely day!

Woah...look at all those comments!  Anywho...I just wanted to say that I admire the fact that you feel comfortable having a public blog.  I’m too much of a control freak to go public, though sometimes I wish I could.  Not that many other people would even want to read what I write....  haha Anyway, you do what you gotta do.  I just hope you like me enough to let me know before you do anything.  :-|

Oh, I so know the feeling, and debated going private too, but decided against it.  It’s a hard decision, and one you can always change!

I say go private if it makes you feel better.  I love that mine is private.  I’m just that way, though.  There are some people that I’m friends with on facebook because I didn’t have enough guts to ignore them, and it bugs me they can see all my stuff.  My blog is my little spot in the world! 

And, ah, The Nest!  Just think how young and newlywedded we were back then.  So much fun!  What would I do without you gals? 

I’ve been trying to keep up with your blog since it was on the Nest.  I loved reading about your experiences in Kuwait and all of the hilarious stories you shared.  I think we’re about the same age (I’ll be 26 in April) and were married around the same time (2005), so it was nice to know that a lot of the life questions you pondered openly were similar to things I was going through as well.