And we begin again

on America's 246th Birthday

It’s just shy of 9 AM on the 4th of July. It is America’s 246th birthday. And though it doesn’t seem popular these days, I still consider myself blessed to be living here in the USA.

Last night, the city’s firework display was just far enough away we could only see the highest sparks in the sky, but all the same we listened to the radio simulcast for the display. And just like every time I hear it, I got goosebumps when they played The Star Spangled Banner.

This morning, JB and I are on our deck, where soft breezes waft through the screens, robins and sparrows flit about fussing with each other, and I can hear golfers hitting off the tee box. In the distance, a mourning dove coos and calls out to her lover and every so often, his answer mingles with hers in a harmony of sorts.

As I was making my first, and likely only, cup of coffee, I was thinking about Substack. I created this account a couple of weeks back after multiple folks said this space reminded them of “old time blogging”. While I don’t know what that meant to each of them, I do know images surfaced for me…back to the times when Blogger was new. And so unreliable that I learned HTML so that I could write blog posts on a regular basis.

By regular basis, back then I wrote sometime pretty much every, single day.

That blog was called “Sometimes I…” and I began it in 2000. A natural evolution of the “Spot on the Web” I created in 1998, mainly to focus on my Trixie Belden obsession of the time.

I named that first blog after a free graphic set (remember those?) I downloaded by Kitty Mead. Hers was one of the first blogs I found - at a website called Kitty, Kitty - and she called it “Bitch Blog”. I was intrigued and wanted to play along, too.

I needed that blog. I was a young mom, worked full-time, and in an increasingly unhappy marriage. One of the first things my (then) husband did after we were married was slowly isolate me from any friends and encourage the estrangement with my family.

The blog gave me a life line to people like me. And despite the efforts to keep me isolated beyond people he approved (which was no one I knew outside of his small circle of acquaintances) I made a network of friends. People I emailed with, spoke to, cried with, and shared cups of coffee.

But back to the present…almost a quarter of a century later.

I signed up for this account on Substack on impulse. With zero plans on what to do with this space. I mean, I have a work blog, a personal blog, a newsletter, and space on Medium. There is a plethora of social media at the tips of my fingers. And if I wanted community, I could contemplate resurrecting Modern Creative Life or the short term project Summer Love Notes.

I also have recently made the decision to take the summer off from most public work, such as my monthly newsletter, in hopes of curing my own burnout. I need to find my way back to filling my creative cup that is, frankly, not just empty but bone dry.

Of course, my brain begun to run through all of the niches I could talk about here. Compartmentalization has often been a saving grace for me. And niches is where it’s at in modern blogging has gone to thanks to Google, SEO, and the rise of “influencers” over “bloggers”.

And rather than blogs being about connection and creative expression, they’ve mostly become one big sales tool, haven’t they?

I thought about focusing on my health and fitness journey. It’s a key part of my burn out recovery. And I would be lying if I didn’t confess to a bit of an obsession with our Peloton. There’s so much related to health and fitness I’d love to talk about - from finding a bra that truly supports to supplements and workouts that, well, work for me.

I have other interests - lots of them. But did I want to tie myself down here with focusing on books, travel, genealogy, writing, games, music, or TV shows? And while I follow the news and politics, I knew for sure that this space would be politic and social justice free.

I thought about the old school approach of more of a diary, a day in the life of… Yet, that felt a little boring. Because a life that is pretty much drama free doesn’t lead to interesting reading in our modern times.

But on this 4th of July, I decided to do what felt like freedom: not forcing myself to choose a niche.

I am well aware that this may not be of interest to most folks, and that’s ok. Never in my life have I been “popular,” let alone run with the “in-crowd.” Rather, I’ve spent most of my life having friends and acquaintances if varying circles whilst never being a part of most of those inner, tightest circles.

So, for now, I plan to simply write about whatever is on my mind. I am in need of the kind of medicine that writing provides to my soul. If you come along for the journey, I am grateful.

May my journey give you the courage to let your own freedom ring, even if you know it’s not in fashion.