Hey friend,

If you’ve arrived at this page, it is more than likely because you wrote something thoughtful on my blog and I didn’t reply in a timely manner.  In fact,I’m only just replying now, in an effort to reply to every comment ever left on my blog.

I’m peeking out of my Box of Shame to let you know… I read it. I promise you I read it.

Maybe I was incarcerated when you posted it, or in my widow-hole-of-denial. Or, maybe (much more likely)… it’s just that I have comment anxiety.  I start by thinking I might not know exactly the right thing to say at that moment, so I stall.  Then I think, “Maybe I shouldn’t reply now, since it’s already been a day? Is it weird? Am I being weird?”  And then a day turns into a week, and pretty soon I’m replying to a comment that is 15 months old with a long explanation as to how I let it slip by for so long– awkwardly bringing up other things I’m not good at like charades, piña coladas, and getting caught in the rain.

I was hoping to just get over comment anxiety, but since that doesn’t seem like it’s happening, I’ve invented a workaround:

This page.

I’ll just link you here, so if you need the apology or explanation, it’s available to you.

I can only try to express in words what your time and thoughtfulness means to me, and I really truly hope that you understand that my delay in no way reflects on my perception of the value of you in my life.

In the interest of full disclosure, it isn’t only anxiety that holds me back.  Sometimes, I get trapped in the space between cats and the internet.

I also am incredibly distracted by shiny and colorful things. Your words usually fuel me with large quantities of energy, and off I go…

The point is…

You are brilliant, kind, and necessary.
Thank you for everything.

xo,
Ra