Personal Stories & Business Blogging - Compatible?

The question often comes up - "How much of my personal life should I share on my business blog?" Yesterday during our teleseminar on social networking this issue was also discussed. Is it appropriate to share about your kids - in my case, my kitties - when networking or marketing online for your business?

Certainly you want readers to know a few things about you as a real live human being. So I'm going to repeat here my 'rule of thumb' about this:

Always write with the readers' interests in mind. Tell a story that includes your family members only when there's a reason and it's teaching something valuable that will help your readers live better lives.

That said, here's my story, a tale of two kitties...

Last night my youngest kitty Huey escaped out the front door that had been left open by mistake. My husband and I took flashlights and searched under bushes and trees to no avail. Unable to sleep, we camped out in the living room all night in case Huey came back on his own.

At 3 a.m. our oldest kitty Dewey started whining. He wailed and moaned and kept looking out the front window. Sure enough, twenty minutes later, Huey was at the door. Dewey somehow sensed that Huey was close to the house and started talking loudly to wake us up.

If anyone has ever lost a pet and been reunited, you know what it's like. You can imagine the feeling of relief. I've tried to find a reason to post about this and tie it into business blogging, but the truth is, I can't. I just needed to share this story with you.

Denise lost her kitty Pele for 6 days when she moved to Ottawa. I can't imagine anything worse...

Sometimes it's okay to share a personal story without there having to be a point to it. Do you agree? Disagree? Find my kitty story "too fluffy" for you? I'd like to know your thoughts!