If You Don’t Have Anything Important to Blog, Don’t Blog Anything At All. . .

Over the years my blogging in this space has, like most things in life, ebbed and flowed.  I remember those beginning years when a thought or feeling barely crossed my mind before I ran to pound it all out from the keyboard onto a blank blogger screen.  Running Chatter has, for years, been my home base, my resting place, my gathering place.  It is here that I collect all the tiny insignificant details of life as well as the big details that are big to me, but I know, big only to me.

As our family has grown and careers have changed, I often look at the “Blogger” tab on my computer longingly, wishing for the simpler days when time to marinate on my thoughts was in abundance. I remember reading articles that advised, “if you don’t have anything important to say {blog}, don’t say {blog} anything at all.”

If I don’t have anything important to blog, don’t blog anything at all. 

Given the constant stream of Huffington Post articles that pass by my eyes, telling stories of world changers doing very important things, and given the state of the world and wars, elections, life, death and terrorism and all the in between–I think it’s safe to say that I have very little of importance to say.

Certainly, I’d love to weave together words and phrases that have the power to move mountains or inspire the masses, or even just one, but I’m realistic, that’s not going to happen.  My voice is a tiny mouse squeak on a crowded New York street, muted in the chaos.  But still, I write because writing brings me back to home base.  Somehow, slowing down and taking the time allows me the opportunity to calibrate myself and find my center.

I need that.  I need to take time to record the big and the little and the tiny and the insignificant, and the monumental, even if only monumental to me, because with every word I record there is a declaration that says, we were here and it mattered.  We were here, and it was good.

Sometimes, in the midst of running a business and having a family and everything in between, I forget the ‘it was good’ part.  Often times, I feel like my toes are bouncing up and down on the bottom of the ocean just trying to keep my head above water.  Some days, I’m certain if I hear the word Mommy one more time, I’m going to let my legs fall under me and let the tide carry me away–and not in the Calgon sense. . .

That’s when I know I need to remember.  I need to remember the beauty of these days and allow gratitude to rush over me.

We have returned to our beloved creek.  It’s not our creek, really, but we claim it as ours.  Behind my in-laws house lies a land of adventure that brings our little family more joy than I ever thought possible from a dirt-filled, creature-filled, rock-filled piece of land.

This is the place where Chad and his brother played when they were young and I have secret dreams of seeing my own grandkids digging their hands deep in the same earth years from now. . .

As the days get longer we find ourselves basking in the glow of the spring light and dreaming of summer days soon to come. . .

Even Taza dreams of being a butterfly. . .

Speaking of Taza. . .

She’s getting bigger.

And cuter.

And I think it’s safe to say. . .

We are all smitten with her.

(Yeah, Chad didn’t want to get a dog.)

Spring is so unpredictable, and each day we excitedly anticipate her offerings. . .

From beautiful skies and warmth one day. . .

To angry clouds, fierce winds, and cold temperatures the next. . .

These are the days when I am so grateful to live where we live, because simply waking up is like unwrapping a present.

Oh, and did I mention, we are back at the creek?

We really like it there.  And Meadow found her prince. . .

And sometimes that’s all I need to remember. . .

What I have to say may not be important to most, but it’s important to me to remember that life is good and beautiful.  And life, in all its forms, is worth recording. . .

still trying to balance a life
filled with laughter & wonder
& love,
knowing that kind of life
is going to baffle most
everyone she meets.  -Story People