Bet you’re pretty surprised that my first post of 2015 isn’t full of uber-cute grand babies and stories of precious moments spent with family. Well, I’m pretty surprised too! Here’s the thing – a couple of weeks ago a blogging friend (i.e. someone I wouldn’t have met if I hadn’t been blogging) mentioned that he was taking an online blogging course to help improve his blogging skills. Since I’ve been feeling a bit conflicted about my blogging lately, I thought it might be a good idea to take advantage of the opportunity myself. You know, getting some fresh ideas, improving my writing skills, being better organized, defining my purpose in writing a blog – stuff like that. Plus, it was free. Always a good thing. The course starts today, and I’ll be getting an assignment every day for the next 4 weeks or so. (Yikes!) Since I hate to get behind before I even get started, I figured it would be best to be a good student and get my homework done.
Today’s assignment – write and publish a “who I am, and why I’m here” post.
Oy Vey.
First the facts – I’m a sixty-something early retiree who is living in a 39 ft motor home with her husband of 43 years. I hesitate to even call ourselves retirees, since what we did was really just quit our jobs and run away from home. The kids were (mostly) launched, the house was too big, and it seemed like a perfect time to take a little sabbatical to celebrate staying married through kid-raising, old house renovating and small business operating. So we sold the house, shut down the business and set off for a one (or maybe two if we were very careful with our finances)year adventure before we settled back down, purchased a small house and found jobs at Home Depot and the local fabric shop. That was in August of 2004. What began as an adventure has become our life. Our friends have stopped asking when we’ll be back, and our grandkids only know us as the grandparents that come with their own house.
I started this blog in June of 2004 as a way for our friends and family to keep track of us and to help us all stay connected. It’s been part travelogue, part RV life adventures, part ministry reports (we are currently working with an RVing ministry called SOWERS that does volunteer service work at different Christian camps/group homes/shelters/schools/churches around the country) and part cute grandkids. Oh, and an occasional quilting show and tell. 1079 entries later it still, I believe, has that potpourri flavor. I often feel as though I am writing a letter to a dear friend, whether we’ve met or not. I love that part of it. But these days, since our life, even though it may look a bit different from yours (living in an RV and all) gets pretty regular, I’m trying to figure out just where this blog is headed. And that’s one reason I’m taking this Blogging 101 course. If you’ve been stopping by my little corner of the internet for awhile, I’d love to hear from you about what part of this potpourri you like best. Or least. And if you’re just stopping by for the first time, I’d love to hear from you also!
So, I think that takes care of my assignment for tonight! If you’d like a bit more insight about who we are and why we do what we do, check out About Us or Our Story.
(I wonder if I get extra credit for writing most of this while we were driving down I65 through Kentucky?)