CONFESSIONS OF A BLOG-HOPPER . . .

I haven't been on here in forever . . . Funny, huh? You would think that with my new status of 'unemployed' that I would have more time for reading and writing blogs . . . I DO love to write, after all . . . and yet I don't . . .

Maybe I just don't feel like I have anything blog worthy to say . . . Though, let's face it, that has never stopped me before . . . ;o)

Not sure what is going on . . . Perhaps it is simply that I am not very good at transitions in life . . . switching gears from one thing to another is difficult for me, and I don't really like to open up when life is a struggle . . .

However, I DO miss blogging . . . and I miss reading blogs . . . I have decided that I am a dedicated blog hopper . . . LOL . . . I read the blogs of friends and family and extended family members . . . and I also enjoy reading the blogs of total strangers. At least sometimes I do . . .

I really do find people absolutely fascinating . . . and since I am the world's WORST photographer (the ones I take are ALWAYS blurry . . . ALWAYS) I might enjoy looking at other people's photographs, but the blogs I love to read most of all are ones where people open up and share . . . so I feel like I get a feel for the writer . . . and even if I never stop back by (blog hopping is by nature pretty random . . . if there is a way to 'note' certain blogs and stop back by, I am unaware of what it is or how to do it) I feel like I have seen a glimpse of the person behind the blog . . . and that my life is richer for that brief connection.

Oh, not ALL blogs are interesting . . . (Sorry, but that IS true) . . . The blogs that are cut and pasted email forwards don't really interest me . . . neither do the ones that are simply quotes . . . I can read scriptures and great writers on my own. I don't mind a quote (of any kind) when the person goes on to explain why that is significant to them . . . what life experiences drove that particular insight or point home . . . etc . . . but when all someone does is copy and paste someone else's words . . . That doesn't particularly interest me . . . I mean, no offense . . . that may be exactly what someone else LOVES to read and more power to them . . .

As for me . . . I like getting to know people . . . finding out how they feel about life and life's experiences . . . what they are learning in their journeys . . . the brief chance to view life through the window of THEIR eyes . . . I LOVE that . . .

Today I was blog hopping . . . I am not sure whose blog I ended up on, or if I will ever find it again . . . but a woman shared (on her anniversary) how her husband had proposed to her . . . He planned out their whole day together, starting by coming over early that morning to make breakfast for her to surprise her . . . then they went to church, and shared the special peace one can find at there together . . . Then they went to an art museum (she apparently LOVES art museums) . . . and then they shared a picnic feast that he had prepared in the park . . . and somewhere along the line he popped the question, asking her to be his wife . . .

I do not know these people . . . I have NO idea who they are. I could pass them several times a day (or live next door to them) and never know it . . . all I have is this one visit to her blog where she shared this special memory, from somewhere down the road. And yet, that one little peek into her heart, truly warmed mine. I don't even know how old she is . . . I just know that she loves her husband, and that together they have built a beautiful family of three, soon-to-be-four, precious children. The love that this family -- random strangers whose path I may never cross again -- shares was SO sweet and SO strong . . . I could feel it through every sentence she wrote about her sweetheart and his creative thoughtfulness . . .

Reading what she wrote today left me smiling . . . and made me want to go hug MY sweetheart . . . What a lucky woman *I* am to have a husband who STILL treats me tenderly and lovingly and still loves to have me by his side . . . through ALL of life's ups and downs . . .

Thank you, perfect stranger, for sharing this little bit of sweetness and warmth today . . . It went straight from YOUR heart to MINE . . . and made my world a little brighter for the sharing . . .

AND SO IT BEGINS . . .

Well . . . I am done dragging my feet (actually, I WAS busy through the holidays and then undecorating my home and getting everything clean and put back together, so I wasn't JUST dragging my feet, but I kind of was . . . a little) . . .

LOL . . . uh oh . . .

I know THAT made no sense, which bodes ill for a writer, you know?

BUT . . . I finally printed out a copy of the story I wrote last November for NaNoWriMo and have begun reading it from beginning to end (for the very first time) . . . making little notes (like 'this need more development' or 'show, don't tell') and some minor rewording and revising . . .

I am about two thirds of the way through it, and honestly (is this terrible to say?) I am actually kind of pleasantly surprised . . . I mean, I WROTE it, so of course there are no surprises in the storyline . . . but I AM kind of pleased, overall, with my efforts. I mean, there are parts that DO flow well, and it DOES hang together as a story . . .

It isn't an IMPORTANT story . . . no vampires or aliens or shape shifters or fairies . . . It isn't about anything really BIG . . . It is just a quiet little slice-of-life story . . . about growing up . . . and changing family dynamics . . . the ebb and flow of friendships . . . coming to terms with changes . . . It isn't very EXCITING . . . but I wasn't trying to write an exciting story . . . I wanted it to be quiet and simple and to feel . . . hmmmm . . . authentic, I guess . . .

And I kind of, sort of thinks parts of it DO . . .



I think that just maybe it is worth continuing to work on and revise and polish . . .



So . . .




I will! =o)