On January 4, 2004 I submitted my first blog entry. I was urged to do so by my two children, John and Becky. I wasn’t sure I could learn to post and publish but writing has always been in my blood. I have had to call on them a great deal this first month and have learned from some of my mistakes.

I never wanted to get into the computer thing. I’ve always loved to type and my electric typewriter was good enough for me. John kept urging me, George didn’t pursue the issue and Becky was on the fence. I think finances might have been her objection.

When I married Rocky almost 3-years ago, he brought a computer with him and that started my quest. It was hard to ignore something that could make my writing easier. I was dragging my feet with the blog but thinking about the family history piqued my interest. I decided I would take the time to learn what I needed and begin.

I began the first blogsite with a poem my mother had in her diary about the new year unfolding. Since my first month of this new year is over today I decided to share some thoughts I wrote in 1986.………for that new year.
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Thanksgiving and Christmas lay behind as islands in a sea of memory. The new year, just passed, is much like a buoy observed from a ship’s rail. A marker of distance. Wise ships see them and adjust their course as wise men observe calendars and adjust their time. I have used up fifty-three calendars and am nearing the return cycle to begin a fifty-fourth. I am a ship leaving port and steering across watery highways to distant shores. There are destinations and schedules’…all is planned and made ready. Whether the winds be favorable or foul I do not know. I sail the same for I have no choice. The shadowy days ahead on my calendar are voids of space and future - waiting as distant port calls. Beacons of light and buoys guide me across the days. As a single journey is begun in trust, not knowing if we shall reach our destination safely, so is each day lived. Take hold of trust and welcome each day.
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I have now turned 71-calendars and owe a debt of gratitude for health and the excitement I still feel about living. I have had enough good times to give me a sense of humor and enough bad times to stretch the stuff I’m made of. I am rich in family and friends here and beyond……..I have loved deeply and been loved. Life seldom gets better than that…………..

Tomorrow I begin introducing my mother’s family.
Until then,

Essentially Esther