I Am So Grateful -- But . . .

Is it me (or are there others of you who agree with me)?  I only listed my blog with Geneabloggers about four months ago -- and it's been nothing but wonderful. In October 2010, there were 341 page views -- mainly from my immediate family (and undoubtedly me) since I haven't changed the settings to exclude my own page views.  In the past month, I've had nearly 3000 page views.  What a difference becoming part of Geneabloggers has made for me.

When I initially joined Geneabloggers, I was jealous of the people who had had their blog acknowledged with an "Ancestor Approved" designation.  I wondered if anyone would ever think my blog was worthy of such an award. I was absolutely thrilled when Jenn of Roots and Stones  recognized my blog in early January with the Ancestor Approved Award.  Part of your obligation when you accept this award is that you must then pass on the award to 10 additional blogs.  For me, this was a very rewarding task because it forced me to look at numerous blogs.  I started "following" several of my awardees and have corresponded with many of them.  In many cases I admire their creativity and writing style.  They are part of my "Dashboard" and "Google Reader" and my life has been enriched though this process.

Fast forward two months.  On March 14th, Margel of 2338 W. Washington Blvd. awarded me the "One Lovely Blog Award."  I am a total fan of Margel's blog and have cited her blog in the past.  I was thrilled -- but -- after my experience with "Ancestor Approved", I did not know if I could accept it.  Unlike three months ago, I probably "follow" more than 30 blogs and my google reader is loaded every day.  I started searching for other candidates for this award and discovered that many already had this award.  Since I'm a former math teacher, I wondered how long it would take everyone in Geneabloggers to receive this award.

Here's my hypothetical situation.  I receive the award.  I award it to 15 bloggers.  They each award it to 15 more.  Theoretically, in just a couple of days, the math could work out like this:
1 blogger awards the designation to 15 additional bloggers -- total 16
The second group of 15 award it to 15 additional bloggers -- 225 + 16
Those 225 bloggers identify 15 blogs each to receive  the award -- 225 X 15 = 3375

So if I'm doing my math correctly, in just three cycles, 3616 blogs would receive the award.  What's really scary is to realize that if 3375 bloggers award 15 bloggers each with the award, that's an additional 50,625 recipients.  I think you get the idea.  (Besides, there are only about 1700 bloggers listed in Geneabloggers.  This results in the same blogs necessarily being recognized repeatedly). 

By the way, before I could even decide how I was going to handle this latest award, I was notified by Leslie Ann of Ancestors Live Here that she, too, had selected me to be a recipient of the "One Lovely Blog Award." As much as I was complimented and thrilled that Leslie Ann felt that Family Matters was worthy of this award, I'm afraid I am going to have to decline all future awards of this type. Instead, I'm making a resolution to recognize those blogs that have had special significance for me. I love this community that I've joined, the people who have chosen to "follow" me, and what I've learned from so many of you. But I want to get back to the reason for this blog in the first place -- namely, that the JONES FAMILY MATTERS.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Kathy