Year number six

It seems the busy-ness of the summer season has caused many anniversaries and birthdays to go by without the accompanying blog post.  In this case... the birthday of Coffee Tea Books and Me!  I am now in my sixth year of putting thoughts onto screen.

CTBandMe was created when Stephanie convinced me to give blogging a try.  I had been writing a combined e-mail to Stephanie, Uncle Gibby (my sister's husband in Florida), BB (my sister-friend in Texas), and Kathy (my other sister-friend in New Mexico).  Unfortunately for them, once I began blogging I no longer had time for personal e-mails and they were often directed to "the blog".  :)

At that time, I wondered what I would write about.  Although I have written often since I learned to read (and I can't remember never having been able to read although I'm certain there were lessons), I had not committed to this kind of writing.  I had written for a "Jesus People" newspaper, and a corporation, and many Bible Studies... but never this thing called a blog.

The Sunday Afternoon Tea series was begun fairly early and I really doubted I could find something to write each week for those posts.  Here it is all these years later and I never cease to be amazed at how something pops up during the week.  This week I had a spark of inspiration when passing a construction zone (some people's brains are just wired differently... sheesh).

So much has changed since those early posts.  We were still in the midst of 24/7 homeschooling and I was spending many an evening waiting for Christopher to finish fencing (yes, as in swords) and many an hour at the Community College reading at their library... once again waiting... as we combined college classes with actual schooling at home.  I used to tell people my method of homeschooling was "Homeschooling by Waiting".

Needless to say, Christopher did not have his driver's license at the time.  He was taking a few classes at the Community College to round out our homeschool classes.  He eventually did get his license, took his senior year of high school full time at the college, spent his freshmen year of college there and then transferred to the University where he is now a senior on paper but a junior in reality.

I was adjusting to Stephanie living 1,000 miles away and she "only" had three children.  My husband was trying to get used to being on S. S. Disability and we had not lived in our home in the country very long.  Uncle Gibby would soon leave us after having lived a long life and both hubby and I were working seasonal jobs at the bookstore.

I had no idea at the start of all this that it was a good time to begin writing again.  I took many people along with me as my family made the transformation from "kid still at home" to "kids no longer at home and taking over their room as my own".  Although we still call it "Christopher's room"... much as one would put "George Washington slept here" on a door of an inn.

There are many parts of blogging I enjoy.  It gives opportunity for writers to... write... without worrying about getting published.  I leave that to my brilliant writer friends who write books.  I love meeting people I've long admired through my blog.

But most of all, I have come to love getting to know some of you as friends.  I can't imagine life without you in it, even if I don't comment often on blogs... or e-mail often... or especially snail mail often... you are in my heart and often in my prayers.  Thank you for the times you have circled the wagons around me in times of crisis and conflict and Job-like summers.  :)

Here is to year number six...

Picture: Blue Stove: allposters.com