Seven Strong

Time passes; people change.  I've just realized that I missed an important anniversary here on the blog which is of course, the blog's anniversary.  I've had this blog for seven full years and am starting eight.  It's kind of a big deal for me personally because I typically never hold any hobby longer than five.  And I've noticed that most of the people I began blogging with (not really with them but they were there and I was there) have fallen away to things like raising families or pursuing avenues of expression.

While I've definitely felt a shift in my focus and my style over the years, it's nice to have this body or work to look back on.  It's not perfect, as the tightly clenched reader who recently felt the need to comment on a single grammar error in a post from five years ago brought to light, but then no one and no blog is.  And, after nearly 2,000 posts (that breaks down to 285 posts per year) I don't really expect perfection and I don't sweat the small mistakes.

This blog started out as just a way for a shy, lonely, and rather creatively bored young woman to reach out to the world, have some fun, and challenge herself in the process, but it turned into something so much more.  This blog was a lifeboat when I was drowning.  I won't say it saved me, but it gave me something to hang onto and isn't that something we're all searching for?

I've changed my mode of communication just a bit as I finally expanded to Youtube last year, but I doubt I'll ever fully move there.  I like writing.  In fact, I prefer it.  And, I know I've complained a lot lately about getting up in the cold pre-dawn to take photos, but the truth is that I'm so pleased, so proud of these pics and these words that I wouldn't change a thing.

Thanks for being here, dear reader, whether it's been for seven years or seven minutes.  I'm glad you're here and I hope I'll be here for years more to come.