Sunday, March 21, 2010

Sunday night thoughts

I'm reading back over old posts and feeling so grateful.  I've always been a journal writer, but once I got married and had kids, my time for writing in my journal diminished drastically. There are many more days between my journal entries now. And, with the handicap of extremely bad horrible handwriting (all those who have ever been on the receiving end of a Christmas card or a SDBBE book can attest to this), I don't know what good all those journal entries will ever be.

But blogging means I get to type. I can type almost as fast as I can think (well, at least faster than I can write illegibly).  I can ensure that everyone can read it if I write it on the computer.  I think I'm feeling this way tonight because I got in touch with my old friend Cindy last week through email.  She emailed me back tonight.  I went back and read some posts that mentioned her, and I was grateful I had written them.  I read posts about my dad, like when he went in the nursing home, and his last Christmas at home.

I think that the world wants us to think that blogging is for bored people with too much time and too many pictures of their kids.  But I think it is valuable.  I think that every word and picture we post today will ensure that we have another memory to savor tomorrow.  Even my boring lists give help me remember those little details of every month that one day I will be grateful to have.  We aren't just wasting our time here.  Our words and our pictures and our rants and raves are important and are giving structure to our own personal histories.  Blogging has brought me close to so many loved one in my life. It has introduced me to strangers who are now important friends.  Sure, it's a form of voyeurism, but it's valuable voyeurism.  You don't really get to know someone through a catch-up email or even phone call.  You get to know someone through the little details of their lives, like knowing that they forgot to mail something or recieved a primary calling or hated a book or made a quilt.  Those little details that we read about on blogs help us stay active in our friends lives whether we live an house away, an hour away, or an ocean away.

Despite the lack of posts lately, I still love this blog.  I am grateful for the way that I can express myself through it.  And I'm grateful to those of you who read my unnecessary details and lists.  We are doing something good here, something worthwhile and valuable for now and for the future.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen to this whole post!

Amy Sorensen said...

As always, ridiculously happy to have your blog. especially updated!!! ;) I agree!

Apryl said...

I love going back to read old blog entries. They're so much more entertaining than reading my old diaries. And WAY less angsty. Knowing that the whole interweb could read what I write makes me complain a LOT LESS about my husband. ;)

Lucy said...

What? The world thinks I have too many pictures of my kids?:)

Preaching to the choir over here. I love blogs and love bloggers. You better keep it up!

Isabel said...

Wow...I forgot how BRIGHT your blog is. I usually just read it through my reader, but seeing it all bright and orange almost gave me a heart attack.

I like to think of my blog as a sort of diary of the past 5 years of my life. When I go back and read old posts I'm usually surprised at all the things I had forgotten.

So...what did Cindy have to say?