I don't care about your Twitter numbers

I don't care about your Twitter numbers.

Or your blog stats.

Or how many PR emails you get in a given day addressed to the wrong person.

I don't care who sponsored you and for what and how much you were paid to stand on your head or write about soda.

I don't care who sent you on that fabulous trip to that fabulous place. Or why. (Although, I don't begrudge you for going. I totally would too.)

I don't care about the blog celebrity you got to hang out with or how many @s you get in a single day.

I don't care how many names you can drop in a single Tweet.

I don't care about the inspiration you're creating for blog fodder alone. 

I don't care how perfect your life can look through a grainy, artsy photo. (I prefer most of my life to be of the non-photoshopped variety. Unless I have a zit.)

I don't care what doors you can open for me unless my hands are full.

I don't quite care how perfect your husband and family are. Not because I don't assume they're great, I'm sure they are, but because perfect isn't interesting.

Perfect also isn't true.

*

I care about your words.

I care about who you care about and why.

I care about the people you're raising.

I actually do care what you had for lunch, especially if you made it in those precious ten minutes in the morning between when you woke up and when your kids woke up and was it delicious? and would you share the recipe? because I'm such a cooking rookie, I don't scoff at any food-related tips.

I care about what's broken you in the past and how you rose up to break it right back.

I care about your sense of humor.

I care about what it's like to sit down for a drink with you and talk about life and infertility and fighting with our husbands and our crazy in-laws and how damn good sausage on a stick actually is.

I care about how you got your 18 month old to stop eating dog food when he has perfectly good pasta on his plate.

I care about how you find joy in the ordinary, day-to-day, commuting-is-a-bitch, the-laundry-is-never-done life.

I care about visiting you when I'm in town, no matter what blog post or Flick set comes of it.

I care about how you treat people, all people, including that blogger with five readers who won't lead you to any opportunity except that silly little opportunity I like to call friendship.

I care about your enthusiasm more than your traffic, your kindness more than your bio, and whether or not you're someone I can confess my love of One Tree Hill to without fear you'll judge me even a little bit.

(I really care if you watch it too.)

*

I care about your story.

I care about how you tell it. 

Comments

[Bethany]

"I care about what's broken you in the past and how you rose up to break it right back." Ah, thanks for that, even though it made me well up in the coffee shop. This whole thing makes me wish I had a blog, because you seem like a truly awesome person to be friends with.

[Jenny b]

Agreed. I just unsubscribed from a blog I've followed for a long time this week because I felt it had devolved into dreamy photos and artsy words about how wonderful the author's children and life and everything always was. After about 2 months of that same wonderfulness, I just stopped believing her.

[C @ Kid Things]

That's what I care about, too. Loved this.

[Kristie]

Perhaps exactly what I needed to hear after a while of sporatic blog posting. Sometimes I wonder if people read what I write (even thought it's not the best written) and really do care even though I'm virtually unknown in the blog world.

[Dawn]

You don't know me (this post was shared on Google Reader by another blogger) and you can't hear it, but I am totally applauding your post. And I shared it--both on Google Reader & on Facebook--because it's just that awesome.

[heidikins]

Oh my goodness, I love this. Love, love and more love. This is why I blog and why I read blogs, although I have never been able convey it quite so eloquently and without a couple or three terrific rants.

Beautiful.

xox

[AmyB]

Thank you for this. I'm such a fan of your words and honesty, and while I share my own words and honesty on my blog, I also don't care who reads it - I do it for myself, as it's so clear you do it for you. Sure, it's great to read the words of the big bloggers who have "made it," but I also have no aspirations to meet them. It's the REAL ones - like you - who truly inspire me. Keep it up, lady!

[Lemon Gloria]

Very nicely said. I agree, I totally agree. Once a blogger gets Very Important and So Awesome and Sought After and then that's what the blog is mainly about, it's boring.

[Janet]

loved this post (I don't care about any of those things either...blogging is something I do because I ENJOY it)...found you via Dawn who shared it on Facebook :-)

[Elsha]

Definitely.

Also, I totally used to watch One Tree Hill reruns on Soap Net in the afternoons, but then Kalena moved her nap time. Sad.

[Janssen]

What a great post - Jennie, you really are a fabulous writer. I'm always so inspired or touched or amused by your posts.

[Meg]

Loved this post! So true! (I think this is my first time commenting :) I'm a bad blog-reader!)

[Holly]

This is one of the many reasons I am so enamored with you and this blog. So well said.

[the grumbles]

so true and well said. thanks for the reminder.

[Tara]

I haven't been following you all that long, but this post here is why you've quickly become one of my favorite bloggers to read. I think you're amazingly honest, which I love!

Also, I won't judge you on your love of One Tree Hill if you won't judge me on my obsession with Charmed. Deal?

[Shelly Overlook]

This is SO awesome!

[Elizabeth]

This was AWESOME.

[Dani]

I needed to hear this. I've been caught up in keeping up with the blogging/social media Joneses, and I needed to remember what matters. Thanks. :)

[stephanie]

Love this. :-)

[natalie]

You are awesome and this post is just one example of why. Because you're real and it shows through in everything you write, people are always going to read and relate to you.

[Camels & Chocolate]

Beautiful! Very well put. This is sort of my reasoning for having not gone to BlogHer before. Though I have a feeling I might be there next summer...

[Christina]

Word!
In the land of the internet I'm nobody- In real life I am exactly who I am supposed to be, a real woman with thighs that rub together and writes what she wants becuase she has something to say, not becuase she's being paid to say it.
First rounds on me!

[Aly @ Breathe Gently]

Coming out of lurker mode because I like this post just that much. I like! LIKE. :)

[Rebecca (Bearca)]

What a great post, Jennie. Almost makes me consider dusting off the old blog again!

[Shelly]

Great post! Would you care if I came to visit sometime?? Ha!
I think we'd have so much fun together. And I would probably laugh, alot. Unfortunately Texas is REEEEALLY far from Alberta. But it does have MUCH less snow....hmmmm.... :)

[Michelle]

We should be friends. Thanks for this post.

[Cassie]

I love this post. Love, love, love.

[sarah marie p]

Great post! And I love "One Tree Hill"! Although season seven was extra ridiculous I can't wait for the premier of season eight. Sept. 14!

[Jen L.]

LIKE.

And sausage on a stick? AMAZING.

[Jen]

Love this. Love you.

[Katy]

YES. YES. YES. All it--I completely agree. I must confess however that I had to give up on OTH--it's not the same with the new faces. I'm sorry.

[agirlandaboy]

Yes. Especially the part about friendship being the real opportunity here.

[Angie]

First time reader here...

Love love love this post. I try so hard to not look "perfect" on my blog. I think that's what we all really need. All of the "perfect" in the world makes those of us that are "real" feel alone...and that's just not a good feeling if you ask me.

Great post, eloquently written.

[velocibadgergirl]

Fantastic.

[Nytshde]

I care that you put it out there...
Awesome!

[hillary]

A-fucking-men.

[TUWABVB]

I care about you - and it grows more and more with every post I read on this blog. I just love you for this and wish I could hug you in person to show it (and possibly grab a pic of it for my Flickr set which I'll then make public). But seriously, thank you.

And from what I've read dog food is a well-balanced meal.

[NewBreedMama]

Great post! Enjoyed reading it! I'll admit I do like to have people read my blog, and I do like having a lot of Twitter followers to tweet with. But the most important thing I get from blogging is friendship and support from other women. You seem like a very kind person. I hear about your post from @CholeJB and I am not following you on Twitter! =) Have a great day!

[Natalie]

I don't care about any of that top stuff either (b/c I don't know what any of it is).

[Sara]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing....a friend posted it on Facebook. Not that you care. ;)

[jodifur]

This post is perfect.

[Ellen M]

I haven't watch OTH since they killed off Keith, but I will not judge you!

[samantha jo campen]

I LOVE SAUSAGE ON A STICK! BUT NOT AS MUCH AS I LOVE YOU!

[Swistle]

THEY KILLED KEITH??? I'm so glad I stopped watching before that. But what I want to know is who you thought was cuter, Lucas or Nathan? Because I kept thinking I was SURE I had a preference, and then it would switch. Eventually I realized it was because both of them were way closer to my son's age than to mine, and that my actual favorite was Keith, by a long shot. Oh, Keith. Why pine for KAREN, when she's so UNAPPEALING??

[Marie Green]

I really think this is what has been holding me back from attending any kind of blog-writer sort of event. I mean, I simply don't CARE about all of the, erm, branding and such. I love my blog community, and I love what blogging has brought into my life, and I love what I learn from reading my "friends" everyday - even though I've yet to meet a single one of them.

However, I recently realized that I DO care about meeting some of these wonderful women, so I'm now actively looking for the next blog-event/conference that would be the best fit for me...

[Marie Green]

By the way, I could wax poetic for, ah, AWHILE about how much I love this post.

[Chibi Jeebs]

What an awesome post! :)

[Steph]

Long time lurker saying thanks and I really respect you even more for this. You rock!

[Waiting Lisa]

This is my first time visiting your blog. Loved this post. Thank you for writing it.

[Victoria Winters]

We read each other's minds.

http://www.bird-on-a-line.com/2010/08/beneath-skin-of-blogher.html