An Ode to Blogging

Blogging, O how I love thee, let me count the ways....

My mom cherishes memories and created and continues to create many fond memories for our family. She takes lots of pictures. I have 10 photo albums that are bursting with memories from birth to my teen years.

So I have always followed her example. I have an obsession with remembering every moment. I cherish every minute detail - clothes, smells, inside jokes, who, what, where, why, when, how.

"We do not remember days, we remember moments." ~Cesare Pavese

I truly believe that every day is a red-letter day.

"This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." ~Psalm 118:24

I scrapbook. I have photo albums. I keep a journal.

"You will have significant experiences. I hope that you will write them down and keep a record of them, that you will read them from time to time and refresh your memory of those meaningful and significant things. Some may be funny. Some may be significant only to you. Some of them may be sacred and quietly beautiful. Some may build one upon another until they represent a lifetime of special experiences." ~Gordon B. Hinckley

To say that I relish in nostalgia would be an extreme understatement. I love to remember the magic of 'back when.'

"We write to enjoy life twice; in the moment and in retrospection." ~Anais Nin

I try to keep in touch with friends - even when our lives go in different directions, even when they move. I cherish my friends.

Now that I'm a mom, I want to leave a legacy for my children. I want them to be able to understand why I am the way I am, and I want them to know how fiercely I loved them. When I'm gone, I hope my posterity can read back at my words, remember where they came from, and that it may possibly help them, if even in a small way.

"Memories are the key not to the past, but to the future." ~Corrie Ten Boom

So when the blogging frenzy really took off, and I realized I didn't need to be an expert on HTML/xml/etc/etc, I was wide-eyed and bushy-tailed. I couldn't wait to get my own blog going!

I had no idea what it would become. I do not believe in doing anything part-way, I try to give 100% in whatever I do, and it was no different with my blog.

"He did it with all his heart, and prospered." ~2 Cor. 31:21

I decided that if one post a week was good, then seven posts a week would be better. And if keeping in touch with my friends and family through my blog was good, then meeting new friends through the blogosphere would be better. I decided that if sharing my story about being a special needs mom was good, then sharing the stories of other kids would be better..... and on, and on, and on.

As I started searching for good blogging material, the millions of little blessings in my life were so much more apparent. My gratitude increased, and so did my happiness!

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it." ~Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Because of blogging, I feel close to my husband's relatives who live in other states. Although I have only met them a handful of times, I can truly say I love them and I know their personalities.

Because of blogging, I have 'met' complete strangers who make me laugh, make me want to be a better person, help me find the silver lining, motivate me to be more creative, encourage me to handle life's challenges the way they do - with grace, humor, and hope!

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." ~Helen Keller

Just when I thought I understood all the good that would come of blogging, I was given a beautiful gift. A stranger read this post about the waiting game we were playing with the insurance company to get a much-needed orthopedic stander for Chloe. She made some contacts and eventually got in touch with me to tell me that her son no longer used....

his monkey stander, and would I want to use it for Chloe? I'm picking it up next week.

"How beautiful a day can be When kindness touches it!" ~George Elliston

The beauty of the immense kindness of this stranger has motivated me, once again, to be a little better tomorrow than I was today. And this is just one more reason that I love blogging!