October 04th, 2018

Can you believe it?  Two years today, I sat down for the first time, right here in this very spot, to write my first blogpost. Wow!  And nearly every single Monday through Friday since then, (with occasion time-outs for vacations, visitors, holidays and computer issues) I have come up with something new to write about every day.  And you brave souls, have actually taken the time out of your days to read it!  And sometimes even to like or comment upon what I wrote!  Bigger Wow!!

I'm sure you realize that when I started this thing, I had zero idea what I was doing.  I really couldn't navigate the website very well yet, I had no idea if anyone was remotely interested in my thoughts, and in fact, now that I think about it, I'm not absolutely certain what exactly my thoughts were!

I was aware that most blogs have a topic.  Blogs about parenting, blogs about surviving divorce, blogs about dealing with illnesses of one sort or another.  There are political blogs, religious blogs, gender specific blogs.  Blogs discussing hobbies, interests, vocations, vacations, staycations and train stations.  This is not any of those.

The very first question people ask me when they learn that I write a blog is, "What is it about?".  I never really have a good answer.    I usually say that it's not about one specific thing; that I just write about whatever is on my mind that day.  And I get this very polite, "Oh" as a response.  Sometimes an even more excruciatingly polite, "Oh that's nice" and then a quick change of topic which makes me chuckle a little bit.  It's not their fault at all.  Perhaps if I could explain it better it would help.

Maybe it's a little like a Seinfield episode.  It's about nothing at all.  Thought, in point of fact, even nothing is something ;)

I've gotten far more comfortable writing this blog over time.  More relaxed with myself, with your invisible readers out there and the process itself.  Every single time I sit down to write now, even if I don't think I have anything to say, it turns out that I do. I surprise myself.  Occasionally I know ahead of time what I'm going to write about and I will even take specific photos to support what I'm going to say.  But more often, the idea pops into my head the night before, or even as I'm turning on the computer for the day. Sometimes it's the recent photos that I've taken that inspire the topic-of-the-day, or a conversation I've had, a questions I was asked or even something that I read.  I never know from where the source will spring.

And now that I'm thinking about it, writing the blog has helped me reach a personal goal.  Yes it has!

Years ago, I realized that I was missing out on the "now" of my life.  Okay that sounded kind of weird. Let me try that again. I've always been the sort of person who is doing at least a dozen things at once.  My mind is going a million or so miles an hour and I'm thinking of hundreds of things all at the same time and always looking 10 miles down the road.  Instead of just relaxing and enjoying Thanksgiving, while I'm basting my turkey I'm planning Christmas.  While sending my kids off to Kindergarten I was mentally enrolling them in college.  

Like most of us, I was wearing too many hats.  I don't regret any of them, please understand that, but I forgot one of the most important hats. Now.  This moment.  It got lost in working full time while raising children, keeping a household and all of the chores that entails, maintaining and nurturing a marriage, keeping family and friend relationships healthy and forever thinking ahead to the next thing on the list.

It occurred to me, maybe 5 years ago, that I needed to learn how to live in the moment. To slow down a little bit, to relax and enjoy my life more.  But I couldn't figure out how to do it and get everything on my gotta do list done as well.  And so I continued to race through my days, mentally checking things off the gotta-do list and always, always looking head to tomorrow, next week, next month, next year......

Since I've been writing this blog, I have definitely learned how to slow down some  My pace is not quite as frenetic as it used to be. I stop and looking around now and again. I take the time to breathe, to enjoy each moment. I had to slow down to really see the world around me certainly to take photographs and  I couldn't really  write about something I'm not truly experiencing.  And what's more, I have learned to really appreciate this different pace, living in the moment, the "now" of my life.

So for me at least, writing this blog has been an surprise gift to me.

Well thank you, to all of you for once in awhile, taking the time to read what I write.  It pleases me to no end, tickles me to bits and pieces, that once in awhile, I write something that you enjoy reading ;)

Happy Blogiversary To Us!