Still Swinging

 

One of my favorite off-shoots of this blog
 is this beautiful visual created by Rachel DeMasi.

Last week marked 21 years since I started this blog. My daughter was still small -- kindergarten or first grade -- and I think I remember sitting on the porch swing at my brother- and sister-in-law's house with her. I know that's where this idea was hatched, and named.

In those two decades, this blog has had multiple homes, multiple schedules, and multiple themes. It hatched an offshoot, Organizing by STYLE, after I realized that my posts here about organization weren't just a phase, and those posts became the foundation for my third non-fiction book.

In the early days, I was proud of myself for simply figuring out how to publish a post. I look back on those short, words-only entries and realize how far I've come. Not only did I not know how to create hyperlinks and add visuals, it never occurred to me to do so. Now, I can't imagine posting something without a visual, often one I've created on Canva to make a recurring feature recognizable at a glance.

My daughter grew up here, in a sense, as she was frequently the inspiration for my posts. My characters spent time here, too, with Marita, Bets, Angel, and Charli answering questions in the way I imagined they would. Their voices were -- and are -- so clear that it was like having a conversation among friends.

Sometimes, it was hard to know what to write about; sometimes it still is. Often, I wondered if anyone was reading anything I posted, or if I was simply shouting into cyberspace, my voice echoed back only  to me. Occasionally, I wondered if this little experiment had run its course but, Jersey girl that I am, I'm too stubborn to walk away.

This blog has taught me a lot. It has strengthened not just my tech skills, but my writing skills as well, enabling me to create content more quickly. It has made me think about what I want to share and what I don't. I I hope that what I've decided to shared has reached others who might be grappling with same things I am, whether that's parenting, kids, work, or life itself.

Thanks for coming on this journey with me. I'm now at an age where I refuse to do the math to see whether or not I have another 21 years in me, but the current plan is to stick around for the foreseeable future.

I hope you'll join me.