Happy Anniversary, Me!

I believe it was about a year ago today that I found Blogger with the help of my good friend, Jennifer! She, also a mother of 5, inspired me by her own well-done blog to start one of my own. Blogging was something that I had only vaguely heard about one year ago. What a difference a year makes! Before too long, I had another blog on a site called Pleonast, at the urging of my sons who frequent that site. I have also recently joined a Homeschool blogging site, but I have not gotten to post too much there yet.

Blogging is another world in my estimation. It is a wonderful place of escape for a few minutes (or hours) every day to read and/or write about life--both mine and other people's. It has been quite an interesting journey which seems much longer than the 365 days it has apparently been.

When I go back to my archives, looking for some record of some event, I am amazed at how much has transpired in one "little" year of my life. So much has happened to my family and my dear friends, and I am so grateful that so many of them have shared the journey with me. I am so humbled and touched by so many of the stories that I read in these blogs. I guess that blogs are popular because we see ourselves in others and are comforted that our experiences are not unique to us. I guess a better way of saying that is "misery loves company!" When things are not going so well for us, there is some comfort in knowing that someone else made it out the other side of a fiery trial without being consumed by the fire!

Recently, my brother sent me an interesting quote by an equally interesting lady. She said,"People complain a lot about conditions as they are, and sometimes I hear they wonder how we will get along, but I have always felt that we have to live only a day at a time, and that surely we can muster enough courage for that. The trouble with a lot of people today is that they look at the world, see it pretty badly tangled, and get frightened when they think of how big the problem is." She continued, "But if they would pull their sights in close and start with their own affairs and stick to the job of handling them for awhile, they would discover that the world was getting along pretty well." It seemed to me that this could have been blogged by any one of a number of my wise friends. These words, however, were quoted from an article about my great-grandmother that was printed in the Sunday morning edition of the Nashville Newspaper Jan. 22, 1939. This was her philosophy about things in 1939, in the midst of a lot of national problems. They are just as true three generations later.

It was also fascinating to me to learn that my great- grandmother had insomnia as well. She said, "Sometimes at night I get restless and can't sleep so well. Then those times come I get into this rocking chair and knit or quilt." I have to wonder if she had lived in 2006 instead of 1906 if she would have been blogging instead of quilting!

I have enjoyed this year of chronicling the past and present happenings in my family and with my close friends. I don't know if it will be something that I will do for the rest of my life, but it has been a neat experience, even if I quit today. I have enjoyed looking into the windows of some great bloggers out there and sharing their lives and experiences (and their yummy recipes!) It's good to find like-minded people and know that as I strive to live differently from the world that I am not alone.

2006 will undoubtedly bring new blogging topics which I cannot even imagine at present. Some of it will be jubilantly wonderful, and some of it will be profoundly sad. Some of it will be intensely interesting, and some of it will bore my now infamous "two" readers to tears. I just thank God that we live in a free society where we can all express opinions openly (although I qualify that by saying that I am concerned about how Christians are being "edged out" of every possible place,) and I pray that under-appreciated right will continue for whatever time is left for this earth to spin.