And He’s Back… (for now)

Every so often, I am struck with a nagging sense of guilt for letting too much time go by without blogging about the memories that I am supposedly keeping.  Self-condemnation creeps in, and I find myself drifting toward the keyboard to try to catch up with writing about at least seven years of the happenings in our family.  It is at this point, however, that I am also struck with a certain paralysis of the will – I imagine that it’s much like finally sitting down to scrapbook, but realizing that the looming stack of photographs are all out of order and have to be sorted through and prioritized and…. and…….. *sigh*…..  The proverbial shoebox of memories is tucked away once again for safekeeping, but not one step closer to actually being set out for artistic preservation.

I just realized, though, that in some ways, I am a far more active blogger than I realize.  In terms of writing witty, sentimental posts about family and memories…. not so much.  However, I am forever taking pictures, and regularly uploading them to share with my family and friends.  I may not be writing nearly as much as I would like;  nevertheless, I am providing a sort of organized narrative about what’s going on in my life, and after all, isn’t that part of the purpose of blogging?

Or am I still just making excuses?

Too Much Social Networking, Too Little Blogging

I am a late arriver to Facebook.  I’ve had an account there, along with MySpace for some time, but I only used them sporadically, mostly to keep in touch with the younger members of my extended family.  Over the past month, however, my wife and I have suddenly found ourselves connecting with more and more of the people we know, as well as reconnecting with old friends, classmates, and acquaintances from our past.  In many respects, it has felt like one great big reunion, and has been a wonderful experience.

The downside is that in getting so connected is that I have realized just how much I have neglected the online activities that have meant the most to me, such as writing regularly in this blog.  Looking back over the dates, I am embarrassed to see such gaps in time, as if those gaps suggest periods of my life where I just didn’t care about what was happening in my life.  That couldn’t be any farther from the truth.  I love to chronicle everything in some way or another, usually by photographs or by my ever-present video camera, but I have always had a special fondness for words.

I’ve written far too many posts in the past (most of them deleted in hindsight) vowing to do better and to write regularly, so I know better than to do it again.  In my heart, I would write everyday, or at least once or twice a week, but I will let this post serve as my yearly reminder to myself to step up the pace a bit.  I only get to go through this life once, and if I write down the memories, thoughts, and feelings for no one else, I write them for myself.  Unfortunately, that particular audience tends to be the harshest of critics of my efforts…

Why "Keepers of the Memories"?

Just in case anybody was remotely interested...

My wife and I are the unoffical "Keepers of the Memories" in our family. Michelle scrapbooks, and I am one of those sorts who is never without a camera (digital or video) at every family event, social function, and random moment in life. I have videos going back to 1989, when my niece was just a tiny baby, and thousands of digital pictures from the past five years or so, especially since the arrival of our son.

Of course, all the archived memories in the world aren't worth much if they are not looked at from time to time and shared with others. Michelle has created a stack of scrapbooks, and so this blog is my attempt to do something similar, but different.

I've tried keeping a diary or a journal on and off since I was just a kid, but I've never been successful at chronicling the little things. In fact, I remember one year when I started off the year with some great in-depth writing about the different things I had done that day, but within a short time, I was just scribbling "School" or "No school" on each day's page in an effort to allay the guilt I felt from not writing every day.

So, my only rule here is that there are no rules. I can write when I want, however often (or not) I want, and not feel guilty for keeping the blog up-to-date. My hopes are that I write something of some value from time to time, but I'm not even holding my breath on that one.

But... you never know...