Why do I blog

As my sister drove me to the airport in Edmonton Sunday night, we talked about many things. One that came up is staying in touch. With her & mom in particular, but also with everyone who cares about my family and I. I am not and never have been the greatest at writing letters/ emails or making phone calls to my extended family and friends. I love them all dearly, and think about everyone frequently, but never got in the habit of communicating regularly.

For much of my life I've been a fairly private person, for a variety of reasons, and am usually pretty reserved about sharing  my life and thoughts to anyone but the closest of family. But when we started out with our plans to travel, I knew that our extended family and friends would want to know what and how we were doing. I wanted to share our adventures and perhaps inspire others. A blog seemed like a good way to do reach everyone, without pestering them with long emails. I wasn't quite sure what I would say, and felt kind of embarrassed “putting it out there”, but knew that the words would come and I would eventually find my voice and my comfort in the process. 

Every time I blog I think about my friends and family who might be reading and following along. Each time I write a post, I’m talking to an unknown audience, but one that ultimately matters to me. It’s my way of saying “Hi, I’m thinking about you all, and I know you’re wondering about how we all are, so here you go.”

Many of my posts start out with a theme, thought or adventure that I want to share and then seem to take on a life of their own. There are always several half formed posts swirling around in the back of my head, slowly composing themselves until something triggers me to pick one and sit down at my computer. I've never been one for concise writing and once started, the words begin to tumble out of my head in a rush. As I share my story I want to describe things in a way that lets all of the people who are far away be there with us, in the moment.  And that seems to take me a lot of words! 

I am enjoying blogging more than I thought I would, since it is so very public, and as such should be waaaay out of my comfort zone. This is different though. This is my voice, the way I want it to be heard, and that makes it enjoyable and freeing in a way I can’t even begin to describe.

An unexpected (and very nice) bonus of wanting to stay in touch - I've been reminded of just how much I enjoy writing.  The blog is allowing me to rediscover the simple joy of creating stories and sharing information that I knew as a child. (Hey look! Personal growth too J) Who knows, maybe someday when we're no longer traveling, I'll look back at the blog and this time in our lives when we willingly uprooted ourselves in search of something unconventional I will write a book filling in all the details…

But until then, I shall keep blogging. To all my family and friends and anyone else reading; Hi everyone!