500 posts...

this is it - post #500.

i've always loved the romanticized notion of journal-keeping, but i've never been any good at it. i tried numerous times as a kid - when i got an especially lovely notebook with fresh blank pages, just begging for purpose.

but i was never consistent. and my sporadic entries were certainly never as interesting as Anne Frank's or Baby-Sitter's Club journal entries. so any attempt at regular writing eventually degraded to a less-than-fascinating record of the day-to-day of a typical childhood lifestyle.

when i discovered scrapbooking, my perspective changed a little. suddenly, words and memories - no matter how typical - were necessary. when i flipped through old family photos, i found myself wondering what life was like for my great-grandmother when she was my age. and then i was filled with this overwhelming need to document the typical.

at first, i scrapbooked for "them". that's the nebulous, future "them" that represents the intended generations to come. but that has progressed. i no longer scrapbook thinking "is that acid free? after all, i need it to still look this good in 200 years." now, i scrapbook for me. now, i think "does this make me happy?"

it's as much a creative outlet as it is documentation of a typical life. but it also serves as a sort of journal. it's just easier for me to "journal" with photos and artistic elements than it is with a pen and notebook.

so the blog is really an extension of my scrapbooking. sometimes i talk about my projects, but mostly, i'm documenting the typical for my projects. much of my "record" of events gets recycled as journaling on scrapbook pages.

and much like i don't scrapbook for "them", i don't blog for you. sorry - but it's true. don't get me wrong, i'm glad you're here. i certainly talk to you like i'm blogging for you. but the truth is that i don't feel a need to tell strangers (and some family and friends) about what i had for dinner last night or whether or not my freshly-planted poppies are sprouting. i do it for me too. call me selfish, but it's my way of taking care of me.

so there you have it. 25 months of blog entries. 500 posts. still loving it. and loving the archive i've built myself. and who knows - with technology being the way it is, it might just happen that my great-grandchildren don't stumble across my scrapbook in 70 years, but that they stumble across my blog archives instead.

i have photos to post, but i'd like to end this post here, being that it is what it is. i'll be back later. :)