Tuesday, April 8, 2014

ANYONE THERE???



They say if you wait to have a baby until your life is completely settled and everything is perfect, you will die childless.  While I would never urge someone to make a life-changing decision before they are really ready for it, there is some wisdom in that homily.  I have been waiting to blog until the time is JUST RIGHT.  Until my life is more settled, until there are no major projects or holidays looming, until there are no demands on my time, until I am more organized.  And you know, that’s just not going to happen in my life. 

I have this romantic picture of myself as a ‘writer’ (a title I am hardly entitled to, but I prefer it to ‘blogger’).  I am sitting in a cozy, well-appointed and spotlessly clean study.  Tea and cookies are by my side.  I’m writing long hand with a fountain pen in a beautiful journal (I told you it was romantic).  When I take a break to sip my tea, I look out the window to see a perfect cottage garden.  Oh, and my cat and dog snooze peacefully by the fire.  I have no idea who cleaned the house, brought the tea and cookies or created the garden.  No one would describe my home as spotless.  I would love a garden, but have no interest in working at it.  And I ‘write’ on a laptop at our dining room table.  I do have a window, but the view is of a pine tree, a scraggly azalea bush, some dead tree and moss where grass should be. 

So my life is never going to be without the things that keep me busy (nor would I want it to) and my cozy little study doesn’t exist.  Do I just give up and let this blog be one of the millions that peter out?  Do I make grand promises to sit down for an hour every day?  No to both.  I love this blog too much to just let it go.  If no one in the world but me read it, I would still love it and go back to it to let the memories flow over me.  But I’ve made promises before and not kept them.  So – no promises, but here is maybe a new beginning. To me, the heart and soul of this blog is our trip in 2011 to England and Paris.  Getting back to that WILL take some organization and preparation.  The memories are almost as fresh as the day we got back, but I need to look at notes and photos for the details. 

So, I’ll try.  I’ll get out my notes and pamphlets and pull up the pictures and, who knows, we may find ourselves in Winchester!