Have you ever given your email to a website in exchange for something?

Like a discount or freebie?

And then they send you emails for awhile and you might read one or you might not

But mostly you delete them

And you subscribe to more emails for more freebies

And you spend a lot of your precious time deleting emails that are useless to you

And one day you get tired of deleting

And you take a moment to scroll down to the bottom of the emails and click the unsubscribe buttons

And it’s such a great feeling

I do this all the time

I make a decision based on my thoughts about the emails or the company or my priorities

And I try to declutter my inbox

It’s not worth my time to be subscribed to something I do not love or that does not bring any joy or value to my life

On this website, which you are reading now, you can subscribe

You get new comics in your inbox every Wednesday and a new Kid Quote every Tuesday

The comics are real life stories that other moms have shared with me and whatever I might blurb about

It is absolutely no cost to subscribers

Unless you decide the emails do not bring you value or joy or they are not a priority then they are costing and wasting your time

Then you have the option to unsubscribe

Which is a wonderful option

My email list grows weekly by one or two new subscribers

And a few people who have subscribed to Chattersticks have also unsubscribed

And I think it is very important for people to make this decision

And I wish I could thank the ones who took the time to unsubscribe

Having an email service added to the website costs money and the cost goes up with the amount of subscribers

It is better for me to have a small band of committed and hopelessly devoted fans than a huge list of lukewarm not invested subscribers

And it is better for you to not have an unwanted email in your inbox every week

I love sharing the stories because I feel a connection with each person who shares a story, many whom I have never seen or met in person

And the readers who love them get the same feeling of connection and joy in the things kids say and do and in knowing that other moms and kids are just like us

Hearing the funny and sweet and crazy things kids say helps me to lighten up about motherhood too and to look for the joy in the everyday

It’s nothing major, just everyday moments with kids and in the life of a mom

Yet it feels so awesome to connect this way

And when people send me pictures of their kids with the magnets I send for free to each story submitter and tell me how they love their stories and ask their mom to read them again and again, I always think ‘oh yeah that is why I do this’

It is to spread joy and love

That’s not always so easy to remember

When I have a stack of 25 stories to draw and I feel pressure to get them all drawn and not keep anyone waiting and get those magnets made and in the mail, and I think ‘I don’t know if I can keep up!’

Then I am reminded by your emails you send and pictures and words and reactions to the stories and I feel the joy reciprocated and I realize I have nothing to ‘keep up with’

I get to go at a pace that works for me as a mother of nine and that pressure is only from my own thoughts

The story sharers have never been anything but appreciative

That’s so awesome