I just finished reading the "goodbye" post from Fat Cyclist, which Elden actually wrote four months ago. I feel as if a part of my life has disappeared.
I've actually felt as if a HUGE part of my life disappeared since Lizard's Parkinson's diagnosis back in August of 2018. I occasionally catch myself in a puddle of self-pity because of what my life has become. We have pretty much become primarily home bodies; we don't get out, and it's not because of any pandemic. When I begin to feel that way, I remind myself what Lizard must feel about his life. That quickly mops up any tears of selfdom threatening to fall from my eyes.
But that's off-topic. The end of a beloved blog I love is a hard pill to swallow. Crazy Mom Quilts was a cherished hang-out, and I'm not sure there is another quilting blog that has come close to the following Amanda had. But Fat Cyclist... there was a time when Fat Cyclist was a way of life for me. For us. Although Lizard wasn't able to keep up with blogs the way I did because he didn't have computer access around the clock like I sometimes did, oh, how he loved checking up on Fatty when he could.
How sad that I'm just now seeing Fatty's goodbye. Fat Cyclist was one of my favorite blogs to read back when I could read blogs every single day. I was sad when Elden moved to Red Kite Prayer because I knew that meant he would be writing less often. Red Kite Prayer was the top cycling blog on the internet at the time, and I thought I might like it as much as I enjoyed Fat Cyclist. Slowly, my life became a little too busy for as much blog-reading (16 grandkids overnight will do that to you!!!), so I didn't read RKP as often as I'd read Fat Cyclist. Before I knew it (because I wasn't reading as often), Fat Cyclist was back, and I tried to keep up as best I could. But life still got in the way. Fatty slowed his production as much as I slowed my reading, and when his posts became less and less frequent, I wondered if he was okay. I wondered if his family was okay. I wondered why I completely lost touch.
And that's sort of the way all blogs have been trending, right? Well, busyness and technology. Now it seems YouTube and podcasts are the way to communicate if you aren't on Twitter or Snapchat (which I'm not). Even Elden declares in his final post, "blogs are dead." (Just try to tell that to the quilting community!!!) Some of the cycling blogs I read years ago didn't make it to the then-average lifespan of a successful blog, which, at the time, was eight years. Many didn't make it eight months!!!
I vaguely remember one cyclist who also was a quilter, and I so LOVED that blog. It was open to the public only a short while. Many of the blogs I used to read on a daily basis are gone now. Many of the blogs I loved to check up on until my life took its unexpected spin a few years ago have either stopped publishing or are now publishing extremely randomly (kind of what I am tempted to do every now and then when priorities keep me from computer free time). Even Red Kite Prayer has moved on in the form of Cycling Independent or TCI.
Are blogs truly dead?
I still LOVE to read blogs, but I don't prove it at all. I visit a very few of my very favorite blogs maybe once every two or three weeks, and even then, I often don't have time and/or means to comment. (Access via one of my computers is restricted, so even though I might be able to read a few while multi-tasking, I often can't see any included images or comments.) Are security restrictions contributing to the death of blogs? Are phishers of the blogging world contributing to the death of blogs?
I don't want blogs to end. I don't want to give up blogging. At least not yet. I hate that I can't be as active as I once was. Especially now that it feels as if Lizard and I are a bit cut off from the rest of the world. Blogging was such a big part of my life. I keep hoping it can be again one day. Especially since I will not move to Twitter and I have even less time to devote to YouTube than I do to blogs. The blog community was my community, and I treasure it. Even now, when it can't be the priority it once was.
I wanted to title this blog post "Painful Goodbyes", but the last time I pulled something like that, everyone thought I was jumping off the deep end! I'M NOT!!! I'm pretty darned happy, and I'm not giving up!!!
But the blogging world has changed. I feel as if I've lost a friend and motivator, even though Fatty is still around, just not in the blogging world. The quilt Lisa (The Hammer) gave to Elden made me feel kin with her, even though I know next to nothing about her, other than she's very fast on a bike. Yet, she probably didn't make the quilt. She probably paid to have it made.
Magic lives on, though, because I have my own Fat Cyclist jersey with pink. It isn't going to be cut up and added to a quilt for a good long time because, thankfully, I can still fit into it. But jerseys come and go, just like blogs, I suppose. And I have cut up a few for a future quilt for Lizard. (Shhh! Don't tell him!!!)
And that means I still have something in common with The Hammer. Lizard will one day have something in common with Fatty. I don't have to pay someone to make it. Lizard likely will treasure it as much, if not more, as Fatty treasures his quilt. And that future quilt will be something full of rich memories both Lizard and I will be able to wrap up in together.
Blogging it is! :-)
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