Why It All Began and Why It Still Matters.

Note: Contains several videos. Watch at website for best experience.

On October 18, 2009 I published our first blog post. The children were 2, 5, and 7. We were early in our homeschooling adventure. My dad had been gone nearly three years. We had lived in Virginia for 2 1/2 years, after 5 years in Iowa.

Life sometimes felt too big, while also too small. I was working for Juice, leading Girl Scouts, homeschooling the children, heavily involved at our church, and had been doing CrossFit for about a month. Phew.

That was a hell’a lot.

I found this video from those days where I’m telling Neighbor Aaron about starting the blog.

We had neighbors and friends we loved. (Still do.)

And in a classic, “I’d forgotten that.” mode, this video shows Monkey singing and playing by herself in our basement. She had made up a tune for the theme “Lights, Camera, Auction” which was the theme for the auction one of the years I helped lead it. I hadn’t remembered that was all part of the mishmash of our life at that time, too.

Those days, and all the years in between have been filled with so much laughter and joy and adventure. And also sorrow and anger and frustration.

As with all people, it’s all there.

So many of those memories would have been lost for us without this blog. I am eternally grateful to have this place to record our family history for that reason. It also gives me a great excuse to dig up and share videos and photos.

In response to my question about memorable blog posts, several folks commented on enjoying reading it in general.

Kelly said it would be easier to tell me which blog posts she didn’t like. (I didn’t ask for a complete list. ;-))

Gina made sure to point out the “Watermelon Cake” post. That made me smile.

I hadn’t remembered that there was a follow up post to that one.

I love the stories of our trips with friends and our travels around the world, but the tiny minutiae of our day-to-day life brings me great joy. (Not surprisingly, Kelly did mention she loves these parts, too.)

A decade later, I offer thanks to those who read these updates of our life and the musings of our world. Begun for the benefit of our children, it’s become important to all of us.

And I’m working to also ensure I don’t fall into this trap:

The Vacation

BY WENDELL BERRY

Once there was a man who filmed his vacation.
He went flying down the river in his boat
with his video camera to his eye, making
a moving picture of the moving river
upon which his sleek boat moved swiftly
toward the end of his vacation. He showed
his vacation to his camera, which pictured it,
preserving it forever: the river, the trees,
the sky, the light, the bow of his rushing boat
behind which he stood with his camera
preserving his vacation even as he was having it
so that after he had had it he would still
have it. It would be there. With a flick
of a switch, there it would be. But he
would not be in it. He would never be in it.

Thanks for reading!