Blog, Blog, Blog

The miscellaneous photos in this post are from some of the many places we’ve been to but I haven’t had the chance to document yet – and there will be plenty more to come, “Good Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise.”

I did it again.  When I looked back to the prior installment in the series on our second cross country National Parks camping trip, I found that it has been more than five months since my last post.  Yikes!  My intent was to document that trip on a much more regular basis but, alas, it seems like there’s always something more pressing at the top of my mind and the tip of my tongue.

Acadia National Park

  

Writers launch blogs for numerous reasons – to post observations on the many different stages of life, to share information and tips on everything from grocery shopping to retirement, to teach others a craft, sport or hobby, and on and on.  The thought of authoring a blog had been in my mind for several years prior to my escape from the workforce, and I was finally able to launch Reflections Around the Campfire a little more than a year and a half into retirement.  Checking off another item on my Bucket List that had been percolating for such a long time felt really good, and it provided me with a solid feeling of accomplishment.  Lately, I’ve been thinking about why I began blogging and continue to do it, and I came up with three reasons . . .

Historic Route 66

Blogging provides an excellent opportunity to use and (hopefully) improve my creative writing skills.  For a logical, numbers-oriented person without an artsy-crafty or otherwise creative bone in my body, I find that putting pen to paper, so to speak, allows me to be creative using a skill that I not only understand, but enjoy as well.  Maybe it’s all those rules of grammar that appeal to my overly orderly mind.  While I would love to say otherwise, you will never find me painting landscapes, designing jewelry, creating a backyard of gorgeous flower gardens or coaxing a huge abundance of vegetables from the earth like my sisters-in-law.  (I am blessed with wonderful sisters-in-law!)  Writing is my creative outlet and blogging provides me the opportunity to practice the craft.

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore

Blogging has proven to be an excellent vehicle for sharing information – as evidenced by the number of things I’ve learned in the years that I’ve been reading blogs.  Critical lessons geared toward retirement, less expensive ways to tackle one project or another, detailed traveling tips on destinations I’d like to visit – all of this and so much more has been gifted to me by writers who are willing to devote time and energy to their blogs.  Because my passions include camping and traveling, it makes me happy to share with others details about our travels and our RV lifestyle.  If anything I’ve shared on this blog has given you an idea for a trip, enhanced your appreciation of our State and National Parks, provided a tip to make life easier or simply put a smile on your face, that’s wonderful – and exactly what I hoped to accomplish when I started writing.

Walt Disney World

Finally, and most importantly, blogging allows me to document some of the significant or meaningful pieces of our life – our family and its traditions, our friendships and, of course, our travels.  When I write about where we’ve been and what we’ve done, I get to re-live the journeys, and that’s just tons of fun for me.  But I’m also creating a record for our kids.  (I save all of my posts to a single Word document.  At some point - or, maybe, points - in time, I’ll print it up and have it bound so Ryan and Kyra will have an actual book, of sorts, about our family adventures.)  Our kids have had opportunities to enjoy a variety of experiences from a young age forward.  Will they remember every single thing about every single trip?  No, surely not.  But, having a written record of the activities we shared (and still share) as a family, well, that’s a gift I’d like to pass along to them.  It would thrill me to know that they had the means to share pieces of their childhoods with their own children and grandchildren.

Yosemite National Park

I have to say that I’m still a bit disappointed that I’ve not done a better job of documenting our past trips, and I do intend to keep chipping away at it.  But, on the other hand, I like the way the blog really is a reflection of the type of talk that often occurs around a campfire.  The conversation moves along from one topic to another, sometimes circling back around and sometimes going off on completely different tangents.  In fact, talk among friends and family around a campfire feels kinda sorta like life itself – educational, entertaining, inspiring, enjoyable, sometimes serious and often humorous.  When we engage in conversation around a campfire, we share bits and pieces of our lives with others.  Thanks to all of you for pulling up a chair, and special thanks to those of you who toss another log on the fire now and then.