I missed it

I knew it'd been about a year since I began this blog and I was kind of avoiding the whole thing if you want to know the truth because I wasn't really in the mood to think about what I'd say about everything, you know a lot can happen in a year and it's pretty hard to sum up that much time in one little blog post. Sure enough when I checked, I started blogging a year and two days ago on the 20th of December 2007 and I missed the anniversary on purpose. Almost two hundred and thirty posts later I'm still writing, trying to take pictures the way I see the things around me, and learning every step of the way both in terms of what I'm thinking and what I'm seeing. It's been a fun journey, one I truly enjoy and I have no intention of stopping or even slowing down.

I took the time just now to reread my first post entitled "Simple Gifts" and was surprised that it still sounded like me. Just why that should be surprising I don't really know, I guess I thought my writing had changed some over the past year, but nope, it was still me, in love with family and confused about life and sad too.

If you read what I wrote, I can tell you that the man who wanted back then to move to some far off exotic land still has those thoughts even more now than ever. The little boy full of enthusiasm on his too-small bike still has that same zest for life, only now on his bike with room to grow. My little writer of a daughter fills books and note pads with her stories and love notes, only now she spells a bit better and writes sentences that are too long like her mother. My youngest is still wild, and loud, and so cute you just want to squeeze her, and so many do. The old friend who lost her daughter still bravely faces every day, full of life and love for the two daughters who remain, paying wonderful tribute to the one she'll never forget. The other friend on a ventilator lost her brave battle with breast cancer almost 10 months after that post. She fought to the exhausting end, leaving her strength behind to carry her grieving husband. And still the other is healthy and recovering, here for many more years if the doctors are right.

We just never know what's in store and I guess that's what both keeps us going and can scare us if we let it. It all just makes me think of a wedding card we received 10+ years ago from a lawyer/writer/author/neighbor, illustrated by her then four year old daughter. You'll like it, it goes a little like this:

May sunshine brighten your days,
May rainbows walk with you always,
May love fill your heart and days,
And may the mysteries and confusions of life reveal depth and wonder.

Yep, I'm right there, somewhere in the middle of mysteries and confusion, and she was right about the depth and wonder.