Happy Second Birthday

Last year, the first anniversary of my blog passed without my even noticing it.  Later, I learned you were supposed to mark the anniversary with a list of 100 things about yourself that no one knew; that struck me as so boring and self-indulgent that I was thrilled I’d missed the occasion.

And now, here we are, marking the second anniversary of the Fabulous Geezersisters’ blog.  I started it with the idea it would be a good way for my sister and me to keep in touch after her recent move to Poland.  She’s a wonderful writer and is living such an unusual life, adjusting to a new culture and teaching English to a variety of students, that I thought it would be an interesting counterpoint to my own more everyday life.  That just didn’t work out.  She’s far too busy to be able to write on a regular basis.

So I kept on writing, using the now-inaccurate blog name.   Then, about a year down the line, I learned writers were supposed to have blogs — and Facebook and Twitter accounts — to build a “platform.”  I’d never heard that term before, but these days, I can hardly get through a 24-hour stretch without hearing it 10 times.  Everybody has to have a platform.

It’s weird.  I still can’t give anybody a succinct or compelling answer as to why I blog.  (Platforms may be succinct, but they don’t compel me.)  Sometimes, I tell them I’ve always been attracted to low-paying work — and since blogging pays nothing, naturally I love it.  Which is true.

But I write this blog mostly because I’ve found I love writing it.  I don’t know why.  Sometimes, I think I’m writing the small stories of my life and my opinions on the world just to leave something behind — like a journal that’s personal, but not too specific or intrusive that people I care about will bludgeon me to death.  Maybe it’s just for me, maybe it will be for my eventual grandchildren.  Again, I don’t know.  I just keep on writing and I take it very seriously.  Along the way, I’ve attracted an audience of new and old friends.  I feel as if we’re in a conversation and I have to keep talking, or you’ll go away.

So.  Over the next month, I thought I’d celebrate it by listing my favorite posts from the first year — back when only my husband was reading it.  I will continue to spare you 100 or 200 boring details about my life — but do read some of these:

celebrating halloween in style: The years our son went trick-or-treating as a Republican and my husband and I dressed up as J.R. and Suellen and I got to shoot him

to hell with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor For some reason, pistachios always remind me of this couple

what it’s like to adopt the Blanche du Bois of the cat world She was psychotic and evil and she moved in with us

what’s so hard about knowing what season it is in Texas? So what if autumn only lasts one day?  It’s your fault if you miss it

(Copyright 2009 by Ruth Pennebaker)