Here in the South we’re pretty big on manners. You can call us old-fashioned, and that’s okay – because we are. And we like it that way.
When I was growing up, there were, as far as my mama was concerned, some hard and fast etiquette non-negotiables: saying “yes ma’am” and “no ma’am,” greeting people – especially elders – with a smile and a “how are you,” and writing thank you notes that not only mentioned the specific gift but also enumerated all possible uses of it. You know, something like this:
“Dear Mrs. Vandingham –
Thank you so much for the beautiful Eternal salad plate that you gave D. and me for our wedding. I cannot wait to use it to serve my mama’s great broccoli salad, and who knows? I may even get daring and try a homemade Caesar. And with all the baking I do, I know your gift will be used to serve countless pieces of homemade lemon pound cake. We are so grateful for your thoughtfulness, and we appreciate you sharing in our joy during this most memorable time.
Love, S.
Side note: when D. and I got married, I actually got a thank you note for a thank you note I’d written. I don’t think D.’s mother has ever been more proud.
Over the last four or five weeks I’ve had a lot of people ask me if I have been “freaked out” by the increase in readers here at my blawg. And initially, yeah, I was. If you can imagine having a certain amount of people stop by for six or seven months, and then suddenly, over the course of a couple of days, you have that traffic times ten – and it doesn’t go away – it’s a little overwhelming. It’s one thing to put your life and your family’s life “out there” when you have a pretty good idea of who all is reading. It feels different somehow when you don’t necessarily know everybody and – here’s the strangest but nicest part for me – those people you don’t know start saying really kind things about what you’re writing. I’d gotten pretty used to the notion that no one would ever find my blog unless I was the one to tell them about it – so the very idea that you’re sitting there right now, reading this – well, it blows my mind just a little bit.
Because did nobody bother to tell you that I’m a GOOB?
All that to say: I’m okay with the numbers now. I really am. It doesn’t even freak me out anymore. And if people stop reading, that’ll be okay, too. Because, really, the blogging thing has been good at every single stage – even back when I was begging people to comment.
And also to say that, given my Southern tradition, I’ve been a little remiss with something:
Dear Stranger Friend – (hey. that’s you.)
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to stop by my little corner of the interweb. I should probably apologize in advance for my excessive use of coordinating conjunctions, my dependency on sentence fragments for effect, and the inexact nature of my diction (see “stuff,” “a lot,” “things,” etc.). Which reminds me: I can’t promise that you’ll always read the most finely crafted sentences when you visit here, but you will always see my heart.
It’s sort of a work-in-progress, the BLAWG, and there’s probably way too much talk of pickles and catfish for anyone’s taste, but, well, it’s home. Virtually, of course. So put your feet up. Have a diet Coke. Sit a spell. And know that you’re welcome anytime.
I pray Philippians 2:1-11 will always be the order of the day ’round here. And I’m grateful – SO grateful – for the privilege of sharing in just a little bitty part of your life. You know, the bloggy part. :-)
Love, S.
Happy Monday, everybody!
aww since I am one of those strangers I’ll say thanks for the message to me :) I very much enjoy your blog and will always drop in. Diet coke? Can you rustle up some sweet tea? ;) I’ll bring my peanut butter cookies! xoxo melzie
Can’t start the day without you … you are my Diet Coke. LOL
I feel so welcome. Thanks!
Manners are so important! Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you for the welcome! I have been eavesdropping for a little while now. I didn’t know it was impolite.:) I’m new to the blogging world. I arrived via Lisa Whelchel’s web site. I fear I might be addicted!!
Just delightful. I must admit, I have been doing nothing but lurking these last few days but with the kind note like yours I couldn’t help but say hi!
:-)
Awww Boomama you are so incredibly sweet. I love visiting you at your blawg!! You are one of my very favorites. Your blog and Jeana’s were the first two I ever read when I started, and I became real attached. Now you my dear are in the big time and I am happy for you. Just dont forget us little peons as you become famous lol.
All kidding aside you have an amazing way with words, and I love to read your posts. You have a compassionate heart and can reach people with your gift.
Have a Blessed day!!
First, theres apparently another Bev out there – so Bev G I’ll be. Rhymes, hope you didnt miss that since its as ]close to poetry as I ever get. Moving on – I have 60 feeds in my bloglines. Since about 15 of those are family I have that category. Go there first, since they are after all family. Then My “top twenty”. Then “Learning to Love” then “checking out” and “captivating”. I love having them in categories – makes it easier to visit. I generally read every single post, at least skim, unless it’s too deep for me, esp if Im partly brain dead, or if it’s something that doesnt affect me at all, like (please dont be offended) home schooling. Im not schooling in any fashion now so I moved on.
In the meantime, I read almost everything, but leave only a comment here and there, to let you know we didnt break up. If I do otherwise we wont have clean underwear or milk or fed pets, etc. That works for me, feels semi-polite. I know my heart, hope others can see it. Sometimes it’s really great to save two or three posts by one person and go read them all together, feels a bit like coffee and a pastry at paneras. Sorry for the length,this comment in response to this post and two or three ago – all lumped together, since thats what Im doing to keep the boat afloat around here.
I just can’t wait to see what you are going to blog about each day. You are the sunshine in a cloudy world!
I would like to thank YOU for allowing us to share in your thoughts and experiences. You so eloquently translate them.
I’ve been lurking for awhile too – your blog is part of my daily internet ritual. I find myself calling my husband to the computer often to read something you’ve posted. Thanks for being one of the better parts of my day! I live in Minnesota now, but am from Texas and lived in North Carolina for a spell, so you fill up my tank with Southern-ness.
Thanks for the “thanks” post, although it wasn’t necessary. I love your blog and will continue reading it no matter what.
I love that your traffic took a sudden leap upwards. My traffic has been gradually increasing over the past few months, although every now and then I get a leap that stays steady.
I do my best to respond to all my comments with either an emailed response or by leaving a comment on that commenters blog. It is becoming a bit of a time commitment to do this, but I love interacting this way with my readers! Thankfully I was able to get caught up this weekend, thanks to a relaxing weekend spent at Oronzo’s parents.
I posted some cute pictures of Snuggle Bug from this past weekend. Stop by and take a peek if you have some time. :)
I have a confession. I’ve been lurking for a few weeks. There, I said it.
I linked here by a few other blogs that I don’t remember, quite honestly. I don’t have a blog.
I love that you are honest in your day-to-day “stuff”. And I’ve checked out your archives. That “blog that goes all the way to nowhere” just about had me wetting my pants. I mean, just totally “hee-haw”ing. It’s a good thing everybody was out to lunch, except me. LOL!!!! Thanks so much for the fun, wisdom and insight.
What a very sweet post, Boomama. Then I went back and read the one you linked to with “my heart”…how sweet and moving! I love your blog and stop by each morning and evening. You always bring a smile to my face!
Dear Mrs. BooMama,
Thank you so much for your kind and gracious thank you note. It will look great printed out and posted on my cubicle wall…
:)
And hey, I’m a GOOB too!
I love coming by and hanging out at your place for a few minutes. Unfortunately, I don’t do diet drinks. I’ll bring my own Dr. Pepper, okay? :)
And you’re on Lisa Welchel’s site? As in, like, BLAIR? Tootie & Blair Blair?! How cool is that?
You think of everything, don’t you? We, too, were big on manners growing up, and I remember writing thank you notes for EVERYTHING – and still do, for the most part – until my MIL told me not to write her thank you notes anymore. I’ve been completely puzzled by what to do. You know, I wrote them for birthday, Christmas, and things like that because I want my boys to grow up writing them too. So, Emily Post (if we can pretend for a moment), what would you do? Ignore her request and keep on writing or honor her wishes? And does it help to add that she is a very “etiquettey” lady? *Sorry, I know you did not mean for the comments to go this way.
I wondered how you felt about so many readers. Thanks for allowing us to be a part of your life. One of the coolest things I’ve discovered about the blog world–the part of it I follow, anyway–is the connection among us. Didn’t see that one coming. Turns out I care about y’all personally!! ~lol~
Dear BooMama,
Thank you for being so welcoming at your blog. As one of your “new” regular visitors I am honored to recieve such a sweet thank you. I read you every day!
Tracie
Bev, why don’t you be Beverly Kay? If you do, I’ll be Barbara Ann.
Boo, thank you for the thank you and you have my permission to show this to D’s mom! Seriously, thank you.
I’m just walking around in a daze today. I’m actually avoiding the office because I woke up and felt overwhelmed. I so want to acknowledge every single person who leaves a comment and for a while I could. But it’s become so time consuming I know I have to come up with a system that works and still allows me time to clean bathrooms and cook around here.
It’s just not possible to acknowledge every single person even though you want to. And if I were you, I’d feel like my hair was on fire so I admire you a lot for not freaking out.
None of us want you to freak out – just want you to keep posting. Daily, please.
Well, when I first read your profile, it sounded like you were kin to me! hehe…but since I don’t have a sister, then I can pretend that YOU are. And even though you called me Stranger friend, I hope I am not the STRANGEST. You always make me laugh, and almost everytime I read your blawg, I am nodding my head in agreement, that is when I’m not wetting my pants from laughter. I think you could be my kid sister, as I am a little older than you. Is your real sis older/younger? Might you be looking for an older one???? again, don’t want to freak you out, but as sg to sg (southern girl) I really like who you are!!! Thanks so much for the thank you, and I’ll be able to use that thank you as a model for another thank you (ok you really do not need a way I’m going to use it, do you????) anyhoo, I have become a daily reader, and hope that that is ok with you. We’ll indeed meet in heaven one day,and I’ll be wearing a sign that says Southerninspiration by the way. I’m on xanga by that name, if you ever want to drop by. I’d really like to be on blogspot and have really cool graphics like y’all, but I am computer deficient in my understanding. Maybe I’ll learn cause I do love me some great graphics!!! Thanks again, and sorry to prattle on so….
Why thank you, BooMama. I love reading your blog, and even when my Bloglines doesn’t let me know you have a new post (like lately), I stop by anyway…because I’m pretty sure you do, and I know I’ll enjoy it. And no matter how big your readership gets, your charming style and laugh-out-loud accounts of everyday life make your blog feel welcoming and comfy. Thanks!
Thanks for the post! Yes, I am a lurker!!! I found your blog through ‘In the Midst of It’ and found hers through Lisa Whelchel. I never even knew Blogs existed (can you imagine????) Anyway, I thoroughly enjoy reading your comments, thoughts, etc. I’m a stay at home mom with little to no adult conversation, and al though I’m not ‘talking’ with you, your Blog makes me smile, or laugh or even think about my precious Lord when you post those thought-provoking questions. For that I say, “Thank you!!!!” I’ve only been lurking for a couple of weeks, but I must say that I have been blessed by it. Funny how God puts people together, huh?
God Bless You!!!
Aside from the fact that you have a fabulous blog, what do you attribute your stratospheric rise in the blogosphere, because I’ve been doing this pretty steady for over a year and it has been slow and plodding. Lately I wonder if maybe I shouldn’t be doing something else.
As a blogging newbie, I just want to say that your thank-you note was so thoughtful, and it really touched my heart. I feel so welcome. So, thank you for your thank you note!I can totally relate to feeling ‘out there’ sort of exposed, even though I KNOW my slip isn’t showing… and wondering who on earth is reading my blog. I’ve written professionally, but it’s not the same at all. This is personal…and you are a joy!
I think what you write is great. It always puts a smile on my face even if the baby has been crying all day or up all night…I can smile reading your blog. Thanks……
Jen
Hi Boomama,
I one of the new ones to your site, and I enjoy all your sentences – grammatically correct or not (Is that grammatically correct?).
Thanks so much for making me feel so welcome to this new community. Your link to my site generated a few comments, and it really is exciting to see that 6 people commented rather than seeing that sad little “0”.
I’m trying to catch up with all of this – learning to upload pictures (I actually figured that one out after much help from another new blogger friend), linking, sidebars and decorative things, thursday thirteen, the wednesday one – anyway – haven’t got any of those yet! It’s lots of fun, and you are just great. I’m praying the Lord will use all of words to bless one another in lots of different ways.
i really enjoy your blog. you’ve got some great southern hospitality going on here and it all seems so familiar. i guess since i’m from the south too. when i started reading your blog, and i can’t remember how i got here, i think you were already pretty popular. but i’ve gone back through some of your archives and noticed those begging for comments posts. those cracked me up. if you only knew…
K I must admit that I’ve been snooping around your blog for a lil while. I’m not really sure how I ended up here(through Rocks in My Dryer maybe? although I’m not sure how I ended up at that one either) but I’m glad I did. I don’t have a blog of my own. (yeah I know I’m probly behind the times there LOL) I have to say that there have been times that I have been to your site and found just the right thing to help me through my day. =) You are a blessing to me and I’m sure to others as well. Anywho, I just wanted to say “Hi” and thanks for all your kind words. =)
God bless you!
Boomama ~ Thank you for the grins and giggles each day! It’s enjoyable learning how southern girls live. Toodles!
What is your traffic these days? (Wondering at what point I will stop freaking out…seriously).
I love the paragraph in incompletel sentences and vague words…so me. I annoy myself re-reading not able to figure out what I’m talking about at times. People from time to time say: Oh, you put my thoughts into words. I’m like…? I can’t even stand to read myself. I don’t get the blog thing sometimes…until I find one I really enjoy “just because”.
You write cute things like that and then you wonder why people keep coming back? :)
I started reading when the tour of homes was coming up, and then never even got around to posting mine, but I still come back. Looking forward to Christmas.
Sweet. Thank YOU! Your mama would be proud. :>))
You have me chuckling as usual!!!
I was just doing my ironing, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t thanked you for the nice list of links everyone generated commenting on your “Because I Love Knowledge” post. So I thought I’d de-lurk and write you a thank-you note. (I actually printed all those comments off.)
Lo, and behold when I clicked through to you, what did I find but this post on etiquette and courtesy! So, we’re cut from similar cloth, Miss BooMama, except my Mum trained me up in Canada to do just about the same things you were taught.
Now that I’m down here in the old USA, things are different. But, I still fall back on my old habits. So here you go: My sincerest thanks for your generousity in sharing your little blawg with the rest of us blogging Mommies.
I’m not one of the new readers, but I’m out here. And I appreciate your heart.
New(ish) reader here .. thanks to Holymama and I must say how very much I love your gooberness. Us Christian goobermama’s must stick together.
Thanks for a lovely post and the perfect verse.
mamak
I do love you dearly, you know?
:)
Thanks BooMama. Love your blog! You are a blessing to me!
Well, thank you kindly. I can say that I could never get tired of pickles and catfish…but I can’t do the diet coke. Regular for me if you don’t mind.
I found your blog when I got home from vacation and saw that EVERYONE participated in your little house thing (I can’t think of what it was called!) and I was like the only person that didn’t!! Ugh. It was on the 28th, I got home on the 31st!! Geesh. But, I really enjoy your blog!
What a lovely letter.
I would like to thank you for introducing me to so many lovely people through your blog. The tour of homes was such a wonderful idea, I am please that it will be on again. Your lovely words of encouragement and friendship are a wonderful start to my days.
i just hope you don’t lose the ‘read by tens of people every day’ thing. you know i love that!
Well, now…I’ve been a BooMama fan from almost the very start…January 2006, I believe. Ever since those first comments from you and Sister on my blog, I’ve been a loyal reader. Who woulda thunk it? I’ve come a long way blawgin’, and I thank you for your help along the way, S. It’s strange how you get so close to people you’ve never laid eyes on in person, and feel like you know them so well. Then I think, I spend so much time on the computer blawgin’, emailing and commenting that I actually spend more time with my friends on here than I do with my family and friends in real life. Not so surprising then that we get so close to one another.
THANK YOU, BOOMAMA for sharing yourself, your life, your faith and your heart. :-)
Okay, break’s over, back to blawgin’ about pickles, stunt pillows, toots, deep-fried pork fat, and macarame. Think you could do a post with ALL those in it? ;-)
i reckon i’ll be “the other Bev.” :)
i found you through a friend’s blog and have been coming here for a month or so. more regular recently.
i come just to see the funky flowers on your background. :)
Dear Boomama,
Thank you so much for the very nice thank you note. I can’t thank you enough for making me laugh and for sharing your heart, pickle stories and catfish toots. You are a gem.
Your politeness brought to mind another Designing Women…remember when Suzanne had temporary custody of Mai Ling and taught her that “bad manners are worse than having no money.”? :)
Well I’m just delighted that your thank you note is addressed to me personally. Really, though, I’m not THAT much stranger than most. Am I? We goobs gotta stick together, you know.
Thank YOU for your warmth and hospitality. You may be a Mississippi gal, but you’ve got a heart bigger’n Texas!
Love you!
You crack me up. Anyway, thanks for the TY note. I write them ALL THE TIME too and stress if I think I might have forgotten one!
Dang. I lost my comment I had all typed up where I was being really honest about how it would bother me if people stopped commenting. I guess it’s just as well. Now that I have a few people who leave comments, I don’t want to lose them. Now I’ve got to check out your post on you begging for comments. That’s a hoot! Beg no more, my friend! :)
It’s a little overwhelming to leave comments now (cuz i’m like 46!).
I just wanted to tell you – I read your blog EVERY DAY even though I don’t comment. :) You give good practical advice on softener and fried food. I like that. Hee hee hee.
ohmygoodness! I’m a born and bred southerner too, and your salad plate thank you note is exactly how my mom taught me to write them, too. I even was required to write them to my grandmother and aunts/uncles and describe what I would do with the cash I got! :)) Although I’m still in the south, it seems that thank you notes have gone out the windows these days. How sweet for you to write one to us!
Hey BooMama!
I found you through Sarah and Sarah through Lisa Whelchel. I love reading your blog! I especially love your Alex stories. I have a three year old as well and I can sooo relate!
I felt like I needed to introduce myself since I am a southern girl as well,(Montgomery)and I would hate to be rude!
Thanks for entertaining us!
BethC
I luv ya Boo, I feel extra special cuz like I got to eat your southen food, get Blawg tips, and all the other fun stuff we did.
BTW- I’m watching Rockstar right now wondering who you think is going to win???
The downside of the upturn in your readership is that I just can’t keep up with the comments from all of your readers like I used to enjoy doing!
Personally I like your writing style! You write like I talk..which should probably scare you a little bit.
I love your sentence fragments and your coordinating conjunctions. (I’m impressed with your English 101 memory).