A Return

Pierce and Camille, evening dune walk, Navarre Beach, June 2016

There are well established rituals that happen every year when our family flocks back to Navarre Beach for our sandy week-long gathering. The sunset walks in the dunes, the late nights of card playing/drinking/storytelling/puzzlemaking, early morning shell hunting, the assigned meal nights, the competition for outdoor shower time with hot water, and the eventual fight that always breaks out on Thursday after spending too much time together and having the air conditioner freeze up. 

And then there is the Florida Book, which is actually comprised of several well-worn volumes of spiral bound notebooks. Aunt Carol, the keeper of the Florida Book, always places them on the coffee table in the main house and over the course of the week funny snippets of conversations are recorded, interesting beach discoveries or adventures or documented, drawings and bad jokes are collected. And every year at some point in the week, entries from the previous years are read aloud and brought back to life with laughter and embellished reminiscing. Family beach stories document generational shifts/additions/losses, hurricanes, Family Olympics (every four years) and weeks ripe with jellyfish and seaweed muck. 

There is something so primal about this ritual of ours, this need to document and re-share stories of annual family beach gatherings. I am so glad we do it. And it is actually prompting me to return to this dormant blog of mine. It's been over a year since I posted anything here and I really wasn't sure if I would ever re-vive it, but I have missed it and I realize that it is serves a purpose similar to the Florida book. It documents bits and pieces of our life and stores them for future moments for when we might want to do a bit of time traveling/reminiscing. So here I am again. Hoping to return to this space on a more regular basis. Hoping to put together a meaningful collection of thoughts, memories, images. Hoping to return to the process of sifting and sorting/ writing and photographing.

Blogships

Breezy beach, sandy discoveries, and boat friends. We had a fabulous time yesterday with Cindy and her crew.  So nice to finally meet after all these years of "knowing" each other via the blogging world. It's always a surreal experience when these meet-ups happen. Immediately prior to the meeting, my gut is filled with a bubbling concoction of giddiness and anxiety. What if it is feels weird? What if we don't get along? What if? What if? And yet, as soon as I meet that blogging friend in real life, it all just feels so comfortable and right.

Yesterday was no exception. Cindy was just as a warm and witty in real life as she is in her writing. Her children are full of life, curiosity, and charm. And her boat world is just as enchanting and interesting as I have always thought it would be.

As I was driving home after our day together, I kept thinking about this process of getting to know people through blogging prior to ever meeting them in real life. I've come to the conclusion that it is the modern version of a pen pal...learning about a person through what they share in words and photos, being able to respond immediately through comments or direct e-mails for a more personal exchange, and yet never knowing what their voice sounds like or how tall they are. Blogging has created connections and friendships that I never could have anticipated and with our nomadic lifestyle that on-line community has been such a source of comfort and support.And happily, each time I have had the opportunity to meet a blog friend in-person it's been a good experience: Karen in Sicily, Juniper in Malta, Jean in Asheville, Wendy who is constantly on the move, and now Cindy on the water. Makes me wish I had kept up with my childhood pen pals in Japan!

Waffles and More

Plates sticky with syrup, heart shaped waffles, lego creations, fresh ricotta mixed with powdered sugar and fresh lemon juice(so simple and so delicious), laughter, warmth, and new friendships... all around a kitchen table in Malta. 

One of the highlights of our weekend escape was meeting Juniper, her lovely family, and a few of their welcoming friends. It is funny meeting someone in real life after getting to "know" them through their blog entries. It's not the first time we have met other families via the blog world (like Karen and Emily when we moved to Sicily), but each time still brings up a flurry of feelings in those anxious and anticipatory moments right before knocking on the door. Happily, our Sunday morning in Malta was wonderful. Everyone, kids and adults, quickly gelled into one laughing, chatting, waffle-eating group and it felt as if we were with "our people". It is so good when that happens, isn't it?

Big Blog Family

Sicilian eggs fresh from the local farm and this interview fresh from Ohdeedoh. I was very honored and to be honest, a bit shocked to be interviewed and included in their fabulous Big Blog Family series. So, "hello, ciao, konichiwa and welcome" to anyone who might have wandered here from that shiny, sparkly space. And to those of you who are already friends and family from the real world and the blogging world: thank you for reading, commenting, and hanging around for this crazy little ride of ours...who knows where we will end up next!

Thoughts on blogging

I am flattered and honored to have been nominated for a Thinking Blogger Award (Thank you, Ann). Which means I am now faced with the difficult task of selecting five blogs that "make me think". This is not an easy job for me because I find myself getting sucked into blogland late at night on a regular basis where there is an overwhelming range of blogs available for selection!

It has also gotten me to think about why I blog and why I get sucked into blogland so easily. My fascination with blogging started when we were in Japan and just starting our adoption journey (thanks to Jessica for the intro to blogging and the tutorials!) Before we even got our referral, I was obsessed with following the blogs of other adoptive families. It gave me hope that we would also one day get that life-changing phone call telling us that we had a daughter in Taiwan. I still feel a close connection to those families who shared their early adoption blogs and continue to enjoy new friendships with other bloggers.

So here are my top five reasons for blogging:

1) Connection to friends and family
2) Voyeurism...yes, I will admit to being a voyeur. Fascinated by what motivates people, what connects us and what differentiate us, soaking up stories, and seeking out glimpses of authenticity.
3) The duality of public and private. Intimacy and distance. A mix of private journals, public/reality show presentations, dialogue between reader and writer the comment section. Interactive journaling and documentation of current day....what an interesting sociological phenomena and how wonderful to be a part of it.
4) Community. It is interesting to see the relationships that form through blogging. Many of the blogs I follow are written by people I have never met and yet I feel as if I know them through their blogs and through their comments. We have also been lucky to actually meet some of our blogging friends (even stayed with some in Taiwan....thanks Rhonda and Steve). Also sort of a sad commentary on our modern society and our search for community on-line with strangers. We should probably stop blogging and start a campaign to interact more with our neighbors..but that is a topic for another post.

5) Outlet...for creativity, for venting, and for documenting ( I confess that my poor children don't have official baby books so I am hoping this will work for now!)

And here are five blogs that make me think in five very different ways (click on the green text to view the blog):

1) soule mama inspiring, creative, she reminds me of my mama and my childhood
2) 3191 beautiful, dynamic and on-going visual blog between two photographers on opposite coasts documenting every morning (click on the months on the side to see more image groupings)
3) mark and susan's site, living in Taiwan, waiting to adopt, and documenting their life and travel in Asia
4) twice the rice Korean adult adoptee's blog, not always easy to read, but very honest, and always gives me something to think about
5) post secret a confessional blog session, hundreds of secrets shared in a very public way, fascinating, sad, funny, scary and very human