Happy Blog-iversary to us <3

I knew we were coming up on the anniversary of the Journey, so I checked back to the date of the first post and it was….drum roll…October 11, 2013.

So we are at an even dozen, if my math is correct, of me showing up to tap out some thoughts for you. Since then I have published 2,703 of these posts. There are 14 drafts that have been hibernating for just the right day and one private one that got removed because the memory had become too painful to have public access.

The photo above is one of the first ones I posted. It was probably taken with my little point and shoot camera that I carried with me everywhere to capture photos. I would download them to my computer and figure out how to transfer them to the website so they weren’t sideways or upside down.

The photo is small in scale because of the transition to a new website format a few years ago. The old photos didn’t make the migration well. Not to worry, I have 4,947 photos in the media file…and I typically add 5-10 a week. Sigh.

I remember just about every circumstance around every photograph, which is often where the stories come from.

I have loved this point of connection with an often faceless group of people. God, in His mercy, has kept me humble in this and I am often taken by surprise to find out who actually reads this.

He sends along a friendly word of encouragement from one of you just often enough to let me know I am doing what I felt He was leading me to do.

The whole goal was to recognize that I personally do not know who needs a smile or a hug or a nudge or a sense that that one is seen and understood on a given day. So I write some words here and share a photo or three and leave the rest to God.

He finds you and sends you here and when it works, it is a beautiful thing.

So next week, I am going to dig out some of my favorite old posts and share and have a week of celebration.

Thanks for showing up.

Thanks for being the best part of the Journey <3