Hello, again - 10 years and 1,464 posts later

On April 10, 2006, I sent a little word out into the world: hello.

Is anyone else as shocked as I am that 2006 is ten years past? 

It feels like more things have changed in my life in ten years then stayed the same. In the last decade, our family has lived in five different houses in three different cities and two states.  Between Brian and me, we've worked 9 different jobs.  We've guided four kids through middle school, high school and into college.  We've added a new family member: our beautiful daughter-in-law, Rebekah.  In ten years' time we've collectively earned 4 high school, 1 undergraduate and 1 graduate degree.  I've read something over 200 books. In the middle of change, this space has been a comforting constant for me.

When people ask me why I blog, I usually reply with two metaphors involving a lifeline and an incubator.  You get the idea, I'm sure.  By 2006, I'd been collecting words into a box of journals under my bed for 35 years.  Something about being 35, or being the mom of four kids ages 9-15, or maybe something less quantifiable, multiplied words beyond the bounds of notebook pages.  A blog became the container for the spillover.

I've never seen myself as a Blogger.  This is a bit silly, since I actually love writing and reading blogs.  I've ignored all opportunities to make money from this space -- in part a passive-aggressive revolt against commercial algorithms with a bit of foolish laziness thrown in.  I think more than that, though, I only ever imagined this space to be a mid-way point to something else.  I've seen the blog as an incubator keeping thoughts, ideas, questions, lament and stories warm and alive until they are ready to stand on their own someplace else.

Along the way, my best discovery has been you.  You there, reading this post.  I'm honored to know most of you in real life (unless there's a host of strangers reading this that I'm not aware of - which I'd probably know if I kept track of those dang algorithms).  You have offered me a hospitality kinder than I could have expected.  You have been kind to me.  Your comments (online and in real life conversation) have been a source of joy and insight for me.  I mean it when I say, I can't imagine the last ten years without the conversations that have been fostered in this space.

We're on the verge of major life changes again.  I will hold onto this little space as a place that is familiar, and, hopefully welcoming to you, too.  But, even here, there's been change.  I decided ten years was long enough time to warrant a bit of a facelift.  I'm still working out some of the kinks, and I'll put a post up soon with some of the new features.  In the meantime, please add me to your blog reader or subscribe in the sidebar to receive posts via email.  (If you received this post via email, then I did something right in setting this up, and you don't need to do anything else!) 

There's one more way I'd like to celebrate the decade milestone.  Would you help me? Have you read anything here over the years that has stayed with you? I'd love to hear about it in the comments section.  

Happy anniversary, little incubator of words.  Thank you, friends, for your encouragement and intelligence and grace over the years.  Here's to ten more.