My mom and I were volunteering at church a few weeks back. I introduced myself to the woman in charge. She turned to me and said, “Oh, I read your blog.”

I get this fairly often when I’m home, and I love it.

Over the summer, I said to a friend, “You know the people who read my blog really know more about me than even some of our friends.”

Every once in a while it unnerves me to remember just how much longtime readers of this blog know about me. You all know my magnetic attraction to embarrassing moments, you’ve followed my attempt to run a 5k, and you know of my love for the Yankees. You’ve read my tirades against censorship and sexual assault.

So, in a way, you all know me.

Andrew Sullivan, of the Atlantic magazine and one of the most popular political bloggers in the country, once wrote a piece for the print magazine explaining why he blogs. You can read it in its entirety HERE. His argument, in a nutshell, is that blogging is the purest form of journalism.

I rediscovered his piece after I ran into another reader of this blog. It got me thinking about why I blog. I know I haven’t been all that consistent in posting over the past few months, but I do love writing this.

In the beginning, it was something to do. I was letting go of running my high school newspaper, and this blog gave me a place to write.

It’s turned into more, though, at least for me. It’s a place that I’ve worked out how I feel about different things. It's served as a place for self-reflection. It’s allowed me to see how I’ve grown and evolved.

And I love feeling a part of the community, even when I’m not at home. This blog gives me a connection to the place I love.

So maybe my reasons for blogging are more selfish than Sullivan’s. I love to write and I love having this outlet.

But I only have an outlet because of you all, whoever you may be, who read this. So this is for you, my faceless friends.

Thanks for reading.