When I click on the publish icon today I will have blogged one hundred and eighty nine times. Last week in a business setting, I referred to this as my folly blog. Since those words came out of my mouth, I have been ruminating on whether it has been foolishness or whether it has served a useful purpose. Life by the Swake started in February 2012 with the amazingly creative title of First Ever Blog! I returned to that inaugural blog this morning looking for inspiration and I had a surprise waiting for me.
I had forgotten that I used a photo of the wall of windows in that blog. It was a photo that must have been taken much earlier in the year as the swake looked lush and green through the windows not at all how the swake looks in February or in November. That wall of windows has featured prominently in lots of photos in the three years since we moved in. We have taken photos from the inside outward and from the outside, in. Last night we watched the western sky through the windows as the sun disappeared. The cloud formations changed every few seconds with the light playing behind them in a visual symphony. The windows permitted us to watch the view from the comfort of our easy chairs.
Somehow the blog has evolved to be a figurative wall of windows allowing you to look out with us and experience a little of the wonder of Life by the Swake from your easy chair. It has also become a window into our lives by the swake. Over time it has morphed from relaying the story of a house build to the stories of life. I'm not entirely sure when that happened. But somewhere along the journey it became important to me to make you laugh, cry, and imagine with me. It became critical that I not let you down, that there be a story every week. Yet I rarely felt pressured. The stories seemed to present themselves although occasionally I felt like I was wrangling a calf. Just for the record I have never wrangled a calf and I'm sure that if I had it would have ended badly for me.
Enough about calf wrangling let's get back to the window concept. Not long ago, a faithful reader spoke with me about the blog. I love it when readers share their thoughts on the blog because it helps clarify where to go and how to get there. Anyway, his thoughts went something like this. "The blog is refreshing. Don't get too political. Stick to the stories because the stories seem like you looked out the window and just decided to write about life." I took that feedback gratefully and have been thinking on it.
Over and over I kept coming back to the idea that the stories permit you to see through the windows with me. Week by week we look out and we look in. Some weeks we laugh together and other weeks we cry together, but every week that passes we are charting life through stories. Our life isn't terribly exciting or unique but for some reason our stories have found a place in your lives. That alone makes it a privilege and not a folly, so I will have to remove the phrase "folly blog" from my vocabulary. Going forward I will refer to it as my privilege blog.
I had forgotten that I used a photo of the wall of windows in that blog. It was a photo that must have been taken much earlier in the year as the swake looked lush and green through the windows not at all how the swake looks in February or in November. That wall of windows has featured prominently in lots of photos in the three years since we moved in. We have taken photos from the inside outward and from the outside, in. Last night we watched the western sky through the windows as the sun disappeared. The cloud formations changed every few seconds with the light playing behind them in a visual symphony. The windows permitted us to watch the view from the comfort of our easy chairs.
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| November evening by the swake |
Enough about calf wrangling let's get back to the window concept. Not long ago, a faithful reader spoke with me about the blog. I love it when readers share their thoughts on the blog because it helps clarify where to go and how to get there. Anyway, his thoughts went something like this. "The blog is refreshing. Don't get too political. Stick to the stories because the stories seem like you looked out the window and just decided to write about life." I took that feedback gratefully and have been thinking on it.
Over and over I kept coming back to the idea that the stories permit you to see through the windows with me. Week by week we look out and we look in. Some weeks we laugh together and other weeks we cry together, but every week that passes we are charting life through stories. Our life isn't terribly exciting or unique but for some reason our stories have found a place in your lives. That alone makes it a privilege and not a folly, so I will have to remove the phrase "folly blog" from my vocabulary. Going forward I will refer to it as my privilege blog.
Blogging Journey
I'm looking through the window
Writing down the things I see
Charting life through stories
Recording the paths of we -
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