1) My brother got married to a bee-yoo-tee-ful girl and I came straight home to load all the lovely pictures onto Shutterfly to send off to my grandmother who wasn't able to make it to the wedding in Cozumel.
2) While loading many (many) photos from the wedding, I noticed a little Shutterfly side-ad for "share sites". I checked into it. I GOT into it. I made a share site for my family...each of us has our very own tab! Pictures, quotes, stories...I was diggin' it! {Sort of funny, apparently this was not a NEW Shutterfly feature, because it seems I'd already set up a share site two years ago and put some Easter pictures on it, then made one for August's music gear....then promptly forgot the whole thing as if I'd had a complete mind sweep.}
3) Then Kennedy comes along and asks if she and her friend can set up a website and post funny videos. Of course, terrible thoughts entered my head just thinking about bad people viewing my 11 year-old and her friend acting like silly kids so I started to investigate ways they could have a "site" in a safe, controlled way. And I found Blogger and signed on, and even did a little practice post. {The girls never did pursue this, by the way, in case you think you are missing out on some 11 year-old girlie humor...I promise I would never deny you that pleasure, provided you are a blood relation.}
4) I continued having a grand time adding things to the Shutterfly site. I posted HI-larious stories about Brooke losing her tooth! Charming stories about how Kennedy's 5th grade teacher loved her so! Then I realized...when those stories became outdated, I would have to remove them from the page and they'd be lost forever! Say it isn't so! I went around this by making another page for "archived" pictures and stories. Yet, something was missing. Something, something.
5) Then I noticed a news story about a small plane crash (read story here) and how the blogging community (I really knew nothing much about blogging at this point) has rallied to the aid of a young mother and her husband who suffered severe injuries in the crash. Dude, there are two things that scare me in this world...two types of links I will click on no matter what...small airplane crashes and alligator attacks.
I was immediately captivated by this story (even though it did NOT include an alligator attack, thankfully). A lovely young girl, 27 years old, with FOUR children. Aye carumba! She started a blog a number of years ago when she and her husband moved to New Jersey, away from her family (she's one of 9, I think) and she started blogging to keep them in touch with her and her children. She was a cute and clever blogger with funny pictures and funny captions. She had a funky vintage style to dressing and decorating. She was interesting and entertaining, and you could see how her blog progressed in style through the years and, along the way, she developed followers.
As I sifted through her blogs in the weeks following, I read about how she gave her husband flight lessons as a gift. Then I saw pictures from a flight in which she writes "if we crash, the children go to my brother". Then "we didn't crash". Ominous. And when I looked to find the post to link to, I cannot. I'm wondering if it was altered because it is just too, too scary. Then a post about really wanting some moccasins in a New Mexico store that she saw the last time they visited the family ranch, and hoping her husband would fly her there. Next post, a picture of her and her son wondering if anyone would like to buy some ad space on her blog. Next post...her sister has posted news of the plane crash. Heartbreaking... She is burned over 80% of her body...but she lives, her husband lives. The next five months are nothing short of miraculous because, despite the odds, she indeed lives. Her sister continues to post on her behalf, benefits are held, money is raised.
I am inspired by her and the way she celebrated the everyday. She has just resumed, tentatively, posting on her blog. She celebrates being alive, yet she is open with her challenges. I have a button on the right - "I read Nie Nie". You should read her too. Her sister is pretty funny and I've become attached to her blog, she can be found on the "Cjane" button under Nie Nie's.
6) In October, I decide that this blogging thing could be the way to combine my Shutterfly share site with my desire to tell stories about the day-to-day...just as this girl did, just as many, many others do.
I figured that if I were a grandparent, I might totally enjoy seeing random pictures of my grandchildren going about things in their daily lives. I might enjoy hearing funny stories that might never make it my way because by the time we connect on the telephone, the stories are filed way away in the back of a busy mommy or daddy's mind.
I figured that I personally would love to read about my friends and family, if they were so inclined to create a blog! I very much enjoy my sister-in-law, Stephanie's, Shutterfly site. And my friend, Lori, has a fun blog which posts fun things about places she and her husband have traveled to and about her projects about the house. I've never seen her house. I like getting a peek into her world.
And guess what else...I like looking at the blogs of complete strangers, too! I love looking at the photography, and reading the stories. Some sites are craft-dedicated, others are family-oriented, some are just about whatever. On my lunch hour at my desk at work, sometimes I look at blogs.
So, in summary, I blog to share our world...these kids grow in a blink of an eye, and this is my way of stopping to reflect and enjoy the moments for just a little longer.
And those faces, oh those faces...who of blood relation (and even beyond!) could resist logging on just to see those faces?
