My original intent was a new blog post every week—Friday, to be exact. Then it became a new blog post every week with a “Saturday-or-Sunday-will-do” amendment. I think I published one post on the Tuesday before the original Friday goal. You get the picture.
When I’m traveling and jotting down notes all the time, I always have SOMEthing to share that I think might interest SOMEbody. When the most traveling I do is to a hardware or grocery store, or just for a change of scenery, that pool of ideas isn’t as deep.
So what makes a blog post interesting, anyway? Unless there’s some amazing, unique, or curious subject matter, why would anyone read a few hundred words from someone who’s not living an adventurous, new-thing-every-day life? I decided to make a note of the types of blog post titles that got ME to click and read this morning.
While drinking my cappuccino, I read about a woman’s views of her death that has been made certain by an incurable, debilitating disease. I’m pretty sure I clicked on that one because I’m in the ‘senior’ category of humans now, and see more years of life behind me than in front of me. That’s not meant to be morbid; in fact, I find others’ own consideration of death in their ‘golden years’ or their attitudes about death itself interesting and often inspiring. Maybe it’s just that more positive people write these blogs, but since death is something we all share, I find it reassuring to read how others think about it, and live their best lives anyway.
I also read an expat’s entry about how she feels now that she’s lived in another country for eight years, having made the move at sixty-four years of age. Alone. Even though she wasn’t writing about a special thing she recently did or a breakthrough in her new language learning, I wanted to know what I might be thinking about or feeling were I to move out of the country for longer than my usual journeys last. She littered her post with little things: the smell from the bakery that she passes almost every day; the colors that a particular villager always has bursting in her wildflower garden; the now familiar sounds of conversation and laughter from little groups of people she passes. I know she and I would get along because at one point, after talking about a ray of sun that hit that garden at just the right spot, she added, “Okay, now I’m getting sappy.” Yeah, but I could see that sun’s ray when you described it, so I’d still like to meet you.
As I scroll, I see the usual How I lost 50 pounds in Five Days! Or The One Thing You Should NEVER Do If You Want a Second Date! My favorite ones to scroll past, though, are the ones like I Almost Lost Everything: Read On to Learn How I Didn’t! Don’t try to reel me in with some ominous title, friend. It’s likely I’ll be disappointed when I read on and find my expectations far exceeded the “reveal”.
So I’ve been trying to come up with something MEANINGFUL to share with you—something funny maybe, or another picture with a caption about my ongoing DIY project, or yet another mention of my cat Simba’s escapades on the patio (Okay, that last one probably doesn’t fall into a “meaningful” category.)
None of those things spoke to me. So this blog post has turned out to be a pondering about blog posts. For me it’s also a way to feel a bit more connected to friends and family in this time of isolation and the unknown. I love to read things from folks far away—even if their posts are no more than a picture and a caption, or something good that happened to them one day. I can hear their voices or see their smiles in their words on my laptop screen. Emojis, as much as some people hate them, make the messages even more real: I’ll take anything that helps me get that familiar feeling of being with that person.
In the end then, I want my occasional blog posts to be ways of being with people when I can’t be with them. Luckily, I don’t share ALL the mundane things I think about. But sometimes I’ll get an itch to let you know about just a regular ole’ day’s time spent painting door trim (shudder) or experiencing the push-me-pull-me angst of cat ownership or figuring out a budget that includes a brand new kitchen as well as a really LONG travel adventure. Doing that lets me pretend that we’re sitting around having a glass of wine together and just…hangin’.
Look at it this way: if you read my blog post, you can stop reading any time when I post a blog; if we were together in person, it would be harder to shut me up. 😉