Happy 400th!!!

Happy 400th!
3 December 2013

Who would’ve thought!  Four hundred blog posts.

And though it might sound like an achievement of sorts, I think you, the reader, need the real accolades.  You’re the ones.  You’ve come with me on this ride.  Many of you, from the beginning days too.  Though some have simply slotted in along the way.  Others merely dipping in, every so often.

And so to all of you, I want to say:  Thanx for your encouragement.  Thanx for your kind comments.  Thanx for your LIKES.  Thanx for your words of appreciation, spoken to me. 

You inspire me.

I’ve grown.  Stretching and stretching with all of my might.  Growing my heart even bigger.  Giving it wings.  Filling it with compassion, gratitude, acceptance and love.

Through my blog, the blinkers have fallen off of my eyes.  It is true that I look at the world differently now.  That it has grown.  And me alongside it.  That I see endless possibilities and opportunities everywhere.

And it fills my with heart pumping excitement.

What a wonderful gift it has been to me.

On the 18^th of July last year, I impulsively simply jumped in, and started a blog.  I remember thinking to myself, “What a silly thing to do”.  I was convinced I wouldn’t be able to sustain it.  What if I ran out of stories?  What if I couldn’t even write at all?  It’s true that I had no experience.  No training.  In fact, I had to google what exactly the word “blog” meant, the night that I did it.  I only had the most vague notion of what it was and what it entailed.

Still, I had my doubts.  My concerns.  Never mind being pretty sure I wouldn’t have enough stuff to write about and would run dry of story ideas pretty quickly.  What if my stories were horrid?  And not any good?  In addition, English is my second language.  I would more than likely make many mistakes.   I don't know any big, smart, fancy, clever words.  I'm not really clever at all.  I have simple tastes.  I'm not very world wise.  I'm not sophisticated at all.

But then, I relaxed.  Cause there was no real reason to fret.  The only people who were going to read my blog in any rate, would be my mom and my sister.  Maybe my aunt.  Long shot – my Twisted Friends.  They’re busy gals.

Who would ever have thought?  Least of all me, that the readership would spread so far and wide.  From far off lands, to just up the road.  From people I don’t even know, to people I sort of, to people I know really well. 

It’s been absolutely overwhelming.  Because I do bare my soul and tell it all.  I’m painfully honest, forthright and say it like it is.  I put my neck out there and say exactly how I feel.  I don’t sugar coat things.  And by implication, it makes me feel terribly vulnerable and open.  I often have someone I don’t know very well, say something personal and pertinent to me about my life.  Because in essence they know me.  They know what I do.  What I get up to.  How I feel.  Even how I react.  And what is so refreshing, is that lots of them get me.  They like my way of thinking.  And they agree with what I’m saying.

So is this all just an ego-trip?  A selfish and self-gratifying boost for me?  No, because ironically enough, when I’m writing a story, I don’t think of who’s reading it.  I don’t think of you, sitting in your car, waiting outside school, killing time, reading my blog.  I don’t think of you, lying in bed, flipping through your i-pad, reading my blog.  I don’t think of you, sitting with your morning cup of coffee, in front of your computer, reading my blog.  Awful to say – I don’t actually think of you at all. 

I just simply write.  For the simple joy or writing.  Of telling a story.  Of immortalising my children’s childhood in words.  Of leaving them an account of their early years in stories.

I actually forget, that anyone is going to read it at all.  That is how absorbing it is.  Satisfying, thrilling, consuming.

Ultimately fulfilling.

Thank you for reading and continuing reading.  Because even though I don’t pander to an audience when I write and I tend to forget about you while I’m writing, your words of encouragement and appreciation after a story, are exhilarating.  And oh so good for my soul and my heart.

From the birds and the bees, to family trees

Helene simply loves, everything she sees

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