Strangers on the internet....

Sorry.  I didn't mean to leave some vague, random post hanging out there so long; like I did with my last one, but real life has been extra busy lately; what with Easter and all.  And driving back and forth to pick up and deposit Man-Child, cleaning the house, and hosting dinner.  Yeah, it's been busy.

But here's the deal.  My blog died.  

Seriously. It was gone. Kaput. Fini. Over and out.

I'm not quite sure how it happened, but it did.  Oh wait, upon introspection, I DO remember....

It seems that I received a tweet from someone asking why my blog didn't accept email subscriptions.  It also seems that I received this tweet rather late in the evening.  It also seems that I, in my infinite wisdom, thought that was an easy fix.

Turns out it wasn't.  Because in one fell swoop, I not only knocked out my blog but also completely knocked out my Feedburner.  (Don't ask.  I don't know).

The kicker?  I had NO idea that I'd killed my blog.  So I went along, happily, creating a few random posts.  

And then waited.  *crickets*

Oh sure, I know I'm not a big blogger and I don't expect tons of replies.  Or pageviews.  But I've come to expect a few.  And I'm totally fine with that.  Really.

But to get nothing?  That set off a few alarms in my head.  So I did what any insane rational person would do.  I tweeted my frustration.  Only, apparently, I was very vague.  So I got nothing in return.

I Googled.  Nothing.

For DAYS, I pushed buttons.  I turned things off and on.  Nothing.

I was ready to cry, have a funeral and bury my blog.  It was INVISIBLE!  Which, as we all know, means it was as good as dead.

And then, I finally sent out a cry for help on Twitter - a very explicit cry.  And I received a response.  From a total stranger.  A person I'd never even seen anywhere on the interwebs.  How he found my cry for help, I'll never know, but he found it AND, even better, he answered one of my questions.

Over the course of an hour or so, this very, very patient man walked me through the process of fixing some of what I had broken.

I was beyond ecstatic.

But then, after a day - hence the random shout out asking if anybody could see me - I realized the blog still seemed to be invisible.  Rather than bothering the very nice person who had helped me before, I posted my next question on a help forum.  Usually I don't bother with these types of forums because they can be very "clique-y."  So you can imagine my surprise when I received a reply rather quickly.

You can further imagine that I may have blown kisses at the person with the reply.  Because of his simple suggestion the blog was no longer invisible!

We all know that there are bad people out there (my husband is CONVINCED that you all are out to kill, maim, kidnap or otherwise cause us irreparable harm - forgive him.  He doesn't know you like I do).  There are trolls, con artists, scammers and the like.

But there are also some very nice people out there.  People like you.  People like the two folks who took the time out of their day to stop and help a stranger with her blog.  A blog that they aren't invested in.  A blog that to them is pretty much invisible anyway.  

They saw someone in need and because they could help - they did.

And those two acts of kindness touched my heart.  And maybe, just maybe, restored a little bit of my faith in humanity.  And THAT is what the internet is all about, people.  Reaching out, helping, lifting up and being friends.  

The twitter guy?  That is none other than Phil Hollows (@phollows).  The other guy?  Unfortunately, he didn't seem to have a real name, handle, blog, etc. so he will remain a mystery to us all.

So thank you Phil and mystery guy.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart.  Because it's people like you that make the world go 'round and the internet the fabulous place that it is; despite all the crazies.

***

I still don't know whether or not my blog will accept email subscriptions - and I'm okay with that.  For now.  Because right now, I'm too afraid to touch anything under the words "Settings."