In just a few short weeks it will be 10 years since I started this blog. (This is Cash when I started!) I swore to myself I would never blog about the process of blogging, that I would never waste anyone's time with why I don't have time to blog or do some sort of personal initiative that I share with readers about how I'm going to blog a certain amount and then fail to meet my self imposed goal. But I'm sort of doing it. A little.
This milestone of 10 years has made me think a lot about this thing with which we exist called the "internet". Sometimes I don't know what to do with it, honestly. I spend much of my time avoiding it, calling upon it as little as possible, mostly for recipes, Bible verses, and encyclopedic home school questions. Every website I visit has annoying ads that make it nearly impossible to find anything out without unintentionally clicking on something that I don't want or need.
It being an election year hasn't helped either. The internet has become a breeding ground for manipulation and mud slinging. The recent tragedy in Orlando was quickly turned into an opportunity for everyone and their granny to offer opinions about the situation. And social media just makes me want to scream. It has changed so much of the way we relate to others and it's sad.
So I have been avoiding the blog. I just don't want to be a cog in the machine. I don't feel like the internet is worthy of my time, even in this form. I tolerate it, not sure how I can be in it but not of it. I fall into the lie the internet sells- that we really just all exist to market ourselves and show how amazing we are at every turn. Throw in a selfie or two just to make sure we don't loose our focus- that we should be as self centered and self promoting as possible.
Not to mention that nothing is written that's more than a couple paragraphs, and most writings are much less. I like to weave a story, and my dear old blog is feeling squashed by captions and low character count quips that have reduced everyone's attention span to half a second. On a soap box much Julie? Whatever, I'm going to speak my piece* and move on.
Since I've gone this far...I also hate that no one seems to care about grammar, spelling, or punctuation anymore. And I also hate that I sounded like an old fart just now. But I don't care. Which makes me even older and even fartier. Again, whatever.
I will conclude. I have some folks who read my blog who love it. They read old posts and look at photos and laugh and remember and enjoy every single part. And those folks are my own kids. While I have considered hanging it up at this 10 year mark, printing out the entire blog into a book, put it on the shelf, and making it part of my past, I have decided not to. I have decided to continue to write for my children. And not to apologize for long boring posts. Not to worry about whether people will care about what I'm saying or not. Not worry about anything, really. Just do it for my kids.
In 30 or 40 years when my kids read these posts I'm pretty sure they won't turn to me and say, "Geez, Mom, I sure wish you would have reduced this cute story about me swallowing glue to 140 characters or less..." I think they are going to enjoy every word.
So kids, this blog is for you. It's not to promote our family, it's not to make money, it's not to allow me to stroke my own ego. It's stories for you, about you, written by a mom who loves you more than anything else.
*I did use the dear old internet to get this saying correct. (I had written "say" not "speak".) I fully support the use of the interwebs to get yours grammar good and all.
