I'm back

So, blogging.  I thought you were a thing of my past.  But after nearly a year of separation, I'm ready to come back to you.

Having readers is nice.  It's fun to connect with people and receive feedback from near and far.  However, the reality is that this space serves as a family journal of sorts.  Posts on F*cebook and Insta fade into cyber-oblivion with no hope of retrieval.  Here, we can look back, even print a hard copy of the moments I happened to deem noteworthy.  It's a valuable endeavor even if the only readers live in the very house from which I currently type.

And, creative outlet is a healthy, necessary part of life.  This is mine.

So, here and now I recommit to writing a little bit each week, maybe more often, about thoughts on our family life, hopes and dreams, funny stories and basic news from our homestead.

For starters, let me just say that certain realities are hitting us full force at the moment:  Life and death, for instance, as our parents age (and we, too) and health fails.

Our oldest child is now a senior in high school.  St. Therese is one of her patrons, and I realized today that this could be the last time she celebrates this occasion with us at home.  (Let me note for the record that our feast day parties are not elaborate - usually a special dessert and an extra prayer.  No one need assume that over-achievement is happening.)

I sat in a preschool event last spring with our youngest and noticed all the young moms sans makeup and sporting sweats and ponytails while jugging babies, toddlers, preschoolers, strollers, sippy cups.  I noticed myself, relatively put together (as much as is possible for me) with my 13-year-old son as my sidekick along with my (at the time) 5-year-old.  My hands were free.  I realized I had crossed a bridge.  I had become the mother of big kids.

So, life marches on, and this little space on the world wide web allows me to capture glimpses for posterity.

Feel free to read along.