Tag: blogging

If You Build It . . .

I started writing this blog on an emotional whim when my first “baby”- the bearded, 6’2″ baby with curly red hair, left the nest. I expected it to be another form of a journaling for me, which I now realize I have been doing most of my life in one form or another.  At first, I told just a few close friends and family members that I had started a blog and then before I knew it, my readership started to grow.  For some reason, the movie, Field of Dreams with Kevin Kostner started popping into my head.

In the movie, Kevin’s character looks out into a vast cornfield in Iowa.  He is considering building a baseball field and he hears a voice whispering to him.  Now for the longest time I thought the line that he heard was, “If you build it, they will come.”  The ego part of me was getting excited about other people being excited about my blog and I would repeat that line to myself on the daily.  Then I would refocus myself, reminding myself that while it was nice for other people to affirm my writings, in the end, my blog was a tool for me to grow and to learn and to self-reflect.  Readers were the “cherry on top” who had really come to read the blog to support me, but also to hopefully glean some understanding about their own feelings and insights during this transitional, uncomfortable, skin-shedding, middle stage of life.  I now realize that together, my readers and I, are creating a community of awareness, familiarity and comfort, and of shared experience and emotion.

I looked up the particular Field of Dreams scene on YouTube and it turns out the quote really is, “If you build it, He will come.”  Some claim that this is a biblical reference and some claim that this refers to the ghost of a past famous baseball player.  I consider myself less of a religious person, but very much a spiritual person.  I see God not as a he or a she or an “it”, but an impossible to put into words, all-loving presence who is implanted into the hearts of all of Life.  I believe God is in all of creation.  So, it easily follows, that “If you build it, He will come.” God loves creation.  God is creation. I believe that God is in the heart of all of Creation.

In the end, I have this blog that I love writing.  I have a community who seems to enjoy relating to it.  I still have a voice whispering to me, “If you build it . . . ”  I have my blog of dreams.

 

 

 

Oh Just to Be With You . . . Thank You

When I was little girl there was a kids’ show that I watched called Romper Room.  The teacher, who was sort of the show’s director would hold up a magnifying glass and peer through it.  She would say directly to the TV screen, “I see Billy.  I see Susie.  I see Rachel and I see you!  I see you!”  When I was very little, I bought it: hook, line and sinker.  Then I started getting “in the know” and my cynical self thought, “Oh really?  How the hell can she see me?”  Well, maybe I didn’t swear, but I was a little annoyed at myself for getting duped.

Earlier this year when I attended the Taylor Swift concert, Taylor talked more than a couple of times about having a very personal relationship with her fans and audience.  I felt a little skeptical when she said it, but she did seem so emotionally sincere.  I had just recently started blogging and everything was so new that I didn’t quite understand this connection.  But now I do.

First of all, I need to say thank you.  I started this blog on an emotional whim.  My eldest child had just left the nest and I had so many words, emotions, questions, doubts, fears, etc. swirling around in my head.  Writing has always been the best outlet for me to really organize the swirl in my head and try to make sense of it all.  I felt like a blog would be a great personal tool for me to heal and grow.  It has definitely been that for me, but also so much more.

I thought writing a blog would better help me to connect with myself and it does help me with that, but I had no idea how connected it would make me feel with others.  I have good IRL (in real life) family and friends who support my blog and read it regularly.  I can’t thank you enough for all of your love, and support, and the kindness you have given to me throughout my life.  I treasure you all.  But readers out there, who I have never met in person, I thank you, as well.  I treasure you.  I never knew I needed you, but I did.  You make me feel like I have a voice worth listening to; you make me feel heard and understood.  I appreciate you more than you know.

I feel a personal connection to this blog, of course, but also to everyone who reads it.  Your time is precious.  You choose what is a worthwhile way to spend your time and when you read my blog you are giving me a gift of your precious time. Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  I sincerely honor that and respect that offering.  What used to be looked at as just a personal release (my blog), has now become a responsibility to those who entrust their time to it.  I don’t take that lightly.  I get up every morning excited to write, excited to release, but mostly excited to connect to you all, my readers.  As an entity, my readers, you have become another part of my life whom I love, treasure and feel responsible to be accountable and there for you.  I want our daily connection to be that “comfortable old pair of slippers” that will always be there for both of us.  I promise you to be as reliable and as honest and as “real” as I can be.  I see you all as my friends and I am grateful for you.  I see you. Thank you.