Monday, August 04, 2008

200th Post

I have been putting off posting this entry for some time now trying to decide whether or not I will continue with it. There have been so many changes in our lives since I first posted in June, 2006. My original intentions were to use this a journal type exercise to train myself to be more diligent with such tasks and to help me articulate what was happening with my family as my mother was entering her final days. This blog then became a way for me to let our family and friends know that we were indeed still living and adjusting to our new lives here in Delaware. Along the way I have used it as a travel journal of sorts and as a personal reminder of what is around us every day.

This is an "under the radar," as my friend Terry says, type of blog. It has been, at times, a valuable and unlikely communication tool. I know a lot of people look at, some simply for the images posted but then there are those who just check in to see what is happening in our lives. Since I don't belong to any blog communities or have a common link with other groups there are very few comments on my blog. There are a couple faithful readers who comment frequently and others who email with comments and those who complain that it is too hard to comment. I have thought about making it my "bully pulpit" but I would surely arouse the hackles of too many I hold dear. So, I guess it is not validation I am wanting. I just need it livelier. Purpose might be good and then again it might not.

So, what to do? I don't think I will abandon this just yet. Instead, I think I will ease back for a few weeks like I have been doing this past month and then decide. In the meantime, I will take in more of my surroundings. I will notice the new things like the turtle in the rain. Before coming to Delaware I had never seen a large turtle in a pond or signs along a highway warning of turtles crossing. I will learn more of the local history and I will enjoy my family and friends.

5 comments:

Alexandra said...

Oh I do so hope that you will continue with your blogging activity! I've learned a lot about you two, and Erica, and Delaware and would surely miss all the great pictures that you post. I think it is definitely the nature of a blog to be fluid and to change its definition over time - but hopefully that doesn't mean that you will abandon it!

Terry Grant said...

I would miss this blog very much if you were to stop. I know there are friends of ours who read, but never comment, which disappoints me because I know how much the comments nurture and encourage! We have spent so many years apart, but you are one of those friends who is always there and when we are together it feels to me like we are taking up exactly where we left off. These past two years of blogging have provided a closer connection that I truly cherish.

And I love your photographs. The turtle in the rain makes me smile and wish I could have seen him in person. And I know you will have even more lovely pictures to share in the future.

Anonymous said...

Even though I absolutely despise blogspot's spam catcher (which _knows_ I'm a spammer,) and even though I have that as a really really good excuse for never commenting, I would hate to see you drop this.

So do you think you are now "trained and articulate?" (you could add a snort in here; blogspot wouldn't let me get away with any such irreverence.)

Seriously, Carla, you are keeping in touch in ways you may never know about. Do continue, please.

And now I'll try to be trained and disciplined myself and see if blogspot will let me in this time! (It doesn't ever believe I have a Google identity, even if Google does believe it....)

June

Anonymous said...

Mercy me, it only took two tries. Maybe I'll comment more often. June

Gerrie said...

Hi Carla! We met in Tacoma before you made your big move. I love blogging. It organizes my thoughts about my life. Helps me to realize that I have accomplished things when it seems as if I have spent a frivolous day. I don't care who visits or comments. I do it for my sanity. Perhaps some day my family will look back at my online tome and remember how much I loved them and how I lived my life with zest right up to the end ( which I hope is a long way off). So, I say, stick with it - for you!