Notebook Therapy

I can hardly believe we're celebrating one year on this little ol' blog of ours. Not only am I celebrating for us girls, but my own wedding anniversary is coming up this Monday. Eight years ago right now I was getting ready to make the biggest change in my life to that point. I was 29 years old when I got married, old enough to have completed college, traveled all over, and established my career. I knew I was making the right choice to marry my best friend, knowing my life would change dramatically but not knowing just how much.

That first year was a wake-up call in so many ways. Here I was a mature, independent and capable woman who, as it turned out, was very immature when it came to dependence on someone else, and lacking in communication skills. We grew up together and grew closer together *quickly* that first year, through funny experiences and some tears too.

Why share this with all of you? I've always been a devoted journal-writer, until a couple of years ago. I fell out of the habit of writing regularly, justifying my complacency with our family blog being a "journal" of sorts, and later this blog being a kind of journal. But I know I need somewhere to write for me and only me.

This is one I revisit regularly, bursting with stapled-in newspaper articles, funeral programs, thoughtful notes, movie stubs, to-do lists, and other stuff.

While I seem to look forward most of the time to plan and prepare for what's next or what needs to get done, or where we need to be, I forget to look back and see where I came from...me, just me. This past summer when we hiked here and, as fatigue started setting in, I focused so much on the steep, rocky path ahead that I almost forgot to take time to stop and look how far we'd come.

The older I get, it seems I become more desperate, for lack of a better word, to not forget who I was pre-college, pre-marriage, pre-kids, or whatever. How am I to know where to go if I don't know where I've come from? I'm thankful that I know where I can look back, remember who I was and am, and figure it out.

So, in honor of our blogiversary, my wedding anniversary, and to thank YOU for coming back here and taking a peek into our lives, I'm making one of these to give away:

I'll even make it in your favorite colors, and maybe you can use it to record a little bit of you, for you, to you. Just leave a comment, and let me know a little something you learned about yourself this past year, or two, or eight! :-)

I'll choose a winner next Wednesday, November 24th.