Four Years
I wrote my first post on this blog four years ago today. In that post I reflected on my son and his friends coming home from school for lunch. It was one of the first weeks of high school and these 9th graders were enjoying the freedom of leaving campus. We lived about a block away, so our house was an easy stop for food. I made a lot of sandwiches in those days....
What I wrote about in that first post was the conversation we had over lunch, about what the boys remembered from 9-11-01, which had taken place five years earlier, when they were just in 4th grade. They didn't remember much.
In the four years since I wrote my first post, and in the nine years since 9-11-01, the landscape of my life and this country has changed dramatically.
There has been hardship beyond anything I could have imagined.
There has been much sorrow in my life and the lives of those I care about, deeper, than I could have anticipated.
There have been many challenges.
But in and through it all there has been a growing sense of community in my life. A community shaped and formed through blogging. Some of you have become my good friends, even if we have never met!
I'm currently reading Carol Howard Merritt's book, "Reframing Hope." Here is what she has to say on this reality:
"Through the Internet and our ability to use it to publish theories, disseminate ideas, and organize people, community is forming and friendships are emerging. People who were once segregated are able to hear one another and live together in a different way. Our communication has changed so we can easily move from face-to-face interactions to interfacing communications. Speaking to one another, seeing the expressions, and hearing the tremble in each voice has not waned in importance; it is just that we have additional tools that can enhance our personal narratives and make our interpersonal communication even deeper." (page 134, Reframing Hope, Carol Howard Merritt)
In other portions of this book she speaks about the power of community's that have been formed on and from the internet. This is indeed one of the greatest blessings in my life over these last four years.
On the other hand I don't know many of the people who stop by here and read what I write. I suspect there are a number of people who read this blog and never leave comments. I wonder why you stop by and who you are? I hope you find some food for thought, an occasional laugh, maybe an inspiration.
Regardless, I am grateful for this blog-world and our sharing of life's joys, sorrows, prayers, hope and faith.
What I wrote about in that first post was the conversation we had over lunch, about what the boys remembered from 9-11-01, which had taken place five years earlier, when they were just in 4th grade. They didn't remember much.
In the four years since I wrote my first post, and in the nine years since 9-11-01, the landscape of my life and this country has changed dramatically.
There has been hardship beyond anything I could have imagined.
There has been much sorrow in my life and the lives of those I care about, deeper, than I could have anticipated.
There have been many challenges.
But in and through it all there has been a growing sense of community in my life. A community shaped and formed through blogging. Some of you have become my good friends, even if we have never met!
I'm currently reading Carol Howard Merritt's book, "Reframing Hope." Here is what she has to say on this reality:
"Through the Internet and our ability to use it to publish theories, disseminate ideas, and organize people, community is forming and friendships are emerging. People who were once segregated are able to hear one another and live together in a different way. Our communication has changed so we can easily move from face-to-face interactions to interfacing communications. Speaking to one another, seeing the expressions, and hearing the tremble in each voice has not waned in importance; it is just that we have additional tools that can enhance our personal narratives and make our interpersonal communication even deeper." (page 134, Reframing Hope, Carol Howard Merritt)
In other portions of this book she speaks about the power of community's that have been formed on and from the internet. This is indeed one of the greatest blessings in my life over these last four years.
On the other hand I don't know many of the people who stop by here and read what I write. I suspect there are a number of people who read this blog and never leave comments. I wonder why you stop by and who you are? I hope you find some food for thought, an occasional laugh, maybe an inspiration.
Regardless, I am grateful for this blog-world and our sharing of life's joys, sorrows, prayers, hope and faith.
Comments
i posted celebration for 50 blogs! i was so enthused to have even begun this venture, so your years have blessed countless who receive without responding as my stats reveal to me. i pray God waters the seeds sown & believe He does.
Blessings to you this day :)
and thanks for your faithfulness in visiting me too !