Blog-stalking

I've got a daily routine. Aside from the personal hygeine and maintenance routine, I have the morning email routine. It's simple enough: I check my email, never responding (just seeing what's there); I check the weather to ensure best outfit picking-outage, and then I check my list of blogs.

That's right. I'm a tad bit of a blog addict. It's my morning newspaper. Some of the blogs I check make sense: family and friends the whole-wide-world over. There's my cousin's blog, and he's got cute kids who say and do cute things. And Bret's cousins have a blog too, and they go cool places, do cool things, and also have cute kids. Friends from high school, friends from church, friends from work, and even former students round out a nice and acceptable list of blogs I visit.

But, then there's the truth.

I'm a blog-stalker, a lurker. But, I'd like to think I'm not alone.

It started when we decided to adopt Grace because the Chinese adoption community is deep and wide and filled with bloggers (and every blog lists 50 more Chinese adoption blogs). And so, I'd go online in search of answers, in search of adoptive parents in the same boat. Inevitably, the blogs I was most drawn to were the ones where the parents were in China to pick up baby or preparing to go to China to pick up baby. It started innocently: what do you pack? what do you wear? But, then, I'd follow the whole trip in China, day by day, always breaking into tears of joy when the couple was united with baby.

But, it didn't stop there. I found myself interested in the adjustment when home. How were the first several nights? Sleep deprivation? Baby's motor skills? Attachment? And as parents launched back into their lives, I never lost cyber touch. Now, some of the blogs I visit from time to time (or daily if they post often) have families who have been back from China for years (or have even made a second voyage over for another baby), and I'm not reading about "attachment issues in institutionalized children" any longer. I'm reading about potty training, loose teeth, and Nana's visit from Maine.

I feel like these people, whom I have never talked to and don't even know I exist, are my friends. It sounds sad, I know. But, when one doesn't post for a long time (a recent favorite of mine took a unexplained four month hiatus), I feel deprived. What's going on in baby Emma's life? Did that foot fungal issue ever get cleared up?

Now, I am sure we have a lurker or two on our site. The crazy thing is that our visitor meter keeps a location map of anyone who visits, so for the most part, I can tell when ya' all stop by. If it says Notre Dame, I know Jenni's made a stop. If it says Seal Beach, California, I assume Kathy's stopped by for a visit. If it says Salem, Oregon, I know my friend Sarah is checkin' in on the Hawkins three. But, who lives in Jacksonville, Florida? That person visits from time to time, and I'd like to say hi! I know what it is like to have secret cyber friends, and I just want you to know that you're welcome here. You don't even have to lurk; you can say hi or stop by for dinner when you're in the Hoosier state. But, if you're like me, you just want to check in, make sure all is okay, and figure out a cure for your own child's raspberries. And if that's your pleasure, you're welcome to stay around and enjoy the Hawkins family ride from a distance.