10 times around the sun

This may seem a little hard to believe - it sure seems unbelievable to even write it - but 10 years ago today, I started this blog (first entry here.)

It was a pretty humble little thing when it started, and it's pretty much still a humble little thing today. Which is as it should be, because I don't think I've changed a whole lot in the ensuing decade.

Sure, I've gotten a little older. You can tell from the slivers of gray that our youngest son has confirmed now increasingly dominate my head. And the crows feet that splay out from the corners of my eyes. But they're both results of the fact that I lead a delightfully full life, and I smile a lot.

The blog has become a personal journal, of sorts, an open-to-the-public glimpse into the moments of my life that I've decided to share with y'all. We've lost my dad and my mother-in-law. We've put our cat down and added a dog, who then got sick but is still very much filling our lives with noise and joy. We've made friends and lost a few along the way. Life, in a word, happened.

A little thing called social media also grew up in the interim, and some of the discussions that used to take place in the comments section now seem to take place on Facebook, Twitter or whatever other platform has been deemed hot this week.

Indeed, blogging is no longer considered "hot", no longer considered a front-line, leading edge example of online savviness. Calling yourself a "blogger" no longer instantly identifies you as a member of the digerati. There are those who now see it as the next MySpace, as something that was once central but is no longer so.

And yet, I continue to write. Because unlike Facebook and Twitter and Instagram, this remains my little corner of the world. My sequential, virtual notebook that often invites me to dig into the archives for a sepia-toned look back in time. It takes me to moments when my kids were younger, when all of our parents were still alive, when I still had dreams of someday becoming a journalist who did meaningful work that I loved to do.

These days, I'm living that dream. When I started this blog, I was looking ahead to a day when I'd live by the output of my pen. I'm doing that now, and I now look back on the day when I decided to leave the traditional path behind. We'll leave existential discussions about career and life choices for another day, but through it all this blog has been the journal of record of this journey.

I still don't know where this journey will take me next, but I do know there's a lot more in me to share. And as long as there's someone out there willing to read, I'll keep sharing it here. Because writing is what I do. I knew that 10 years ago. And now that I've had a decade to think about it, I realize it's more than just what I do. It's who I am.

To a certain extent, so is Written Inc.

I wonder what the next 10 years will bring. If it's anything like the past 10, there's a lot of great writing ahead. I hope you'll all continue to be part of the journey.

Onward...