My Kind and Good-Hearted Blog Community

I scrolled through the names of the people I sent packages to for the past three months.  I knew Cheryl’s would be there and that I’d be able to tell her that her Potholder had been delivered and exactly when.

It’s happened before, mostly it gets settled quickly a package is overlooked or misplaced.

When I didn’t see her name the first time, I looked again going back to March, even though our first email was in April.  Surely it was here. I remembered packing up the potholder and putting it in the mail.

Or did I?

Apparently not.  As certain as I was, there was no record on Pirate Ship ( the mailing service I use) that I’d sent the Pocket Of Joy Potholder.

I thanked Cheryl for emailing me and apologized profusely.  Cheryl was more than gracious, understanding my lapse of memory.

Today I made a Pocket Of Joy potholder for Cheryl, tomorrow I’ll put it in the mail.  For real this time.

I think I may have forgotten to send a magnet in the past, but, as far as I can remember,  this is the first time I’ve messed up so completely on mailing out a potholder that someone paid for.

If this happened in the first years of my business, I’d have beaten myself up over it.  Now I pretty much know I can trust the people who buy my work as much as they trust me.  Cheryl not only understood but knew I won’t have done such a thing on purpose.

And it’s not like we even really know each other. She is not even one of my regular customers.  But still, her response to my mistake was heartening.

It seems like there is more anger and fear than ever in the world.  It’s so easy to get caught up in it, to get defensive, be suspicious, even paranoid. And it’s even easier to feel this way online when we don’t have to interact face to face.

But I’m fortunate that I’ve seen little of that on my blog and in my business (I’m knocking on wood as I write this).  I think it’s partly because I have a very small presence on Facebook, where anger and lies easily fester.  And I have no presence on many of the more popular platforms.   And even though I sell my work on Etsy, the majority of the people who buy my art there come from my blog.

So I think the people who buy my art know enough about me through my blog and Jon’s to trust my intentions and be understanding of my mistakes.

So I’d say that my blog and work are a success in more than one way.  Not only do I get to make my art for a living, but I have created a blog that attracts people who want to be there and have come to trust me.

It is true that I’m not controversial and I don’t make a lot of money, so both are good reasons why  I don’t attract a lot of criticism or arguments.

But this is a conscious decision, I made early on.   My art has always been about making connections and trying to put a little good out into the world.

I’ve never really thought about my blog in quite this way before.   But it feels good to acknowledge.  It makes me feel even better about what I do, knowing that I’m in the company of so many kind and good-hearted people.