Today was Oprah's last day of television. And can you believe I missed it? Yep. I totally forgot this was the last day, and darn it, we don't have DVR! Although, I'm sure it will be replayed and replayed. But it's never the same when you don't see it live. Anyway, I've watched SO many of her shows over the years--I've been inspired, uplifted, had a few a-ha moments of my own, laughed a lot, shed a few tears... heck, even the "ugly cry" too, and while I don't always agree with what she believes, at the same time she is such an iconic figure, that today was kinda monumental. And even though she's moving to her own station (one we don't get sans cable) it does feel like today marks the end of an era.
Well, today also marks the end to another era... an era on this blog, in fact. As you can see, at long last, I decided to set my blog to private. And in many ways, this feels monumental to me. Maybe not as big as Oprah's last show. But it was a tough decision, one that took me a long time to reach. So to me, this is big.
When I started my blog, I was pretty new to the whole blogging thing. But I had a few friends who had blogs. And I enjoyed following them. And so when I became pregnant with Elizabeth, I quickly hopped on the blog-bandwagon--figuring it would be such a great tool for keeping the long distance family up to date on all our happenings. Not much sooner than I started the blog, I realized what an amazing tool it was for not just sharing our lives with the family back home--but also in keeping a record of so many stories and memories. And I really fell in love with that aspect! All our favorite pictures, and videos, and memories--all organized for us to look back on. Often, when the kids are napping, I'll hop on the computer and add some new pictures and write a new post. And then... I'll sit back and reread some old entries. It's amazing what you forget. The little details. But they are all here, on the blog. And that makes me so happy. In fact, while I started it for the family back home, I think in the end it has really become more for my own family. A place to preserve our memories. There's something so cool about that.
Well, over the last year or so, I started toying with the idea of setting my blog to private. I kinda hated to do that. If you are a blogger, you know how fun it is to read about other families, even families you don't know as you hop from link to link to link. In fact, there are a few families I follow (friends of friends of friends) who I'd be pretty upset if I clicked on their page tomorrow, and found it had been set to private. I enjoy reading about other people's lives. What they are doing. What problems they are facing or milestones they are reaching. I love getting (and stealing) ideas for crafts, meals, activities, even vacations! Which is why I really liked having my blog "out there."
I also liked having it public because it made it SUPER easy for friends and family to find us. Just type in our web address, and bam, you were here. The extra step of signing in, setting up a password... well we all know that's tedious, and even difficult for some of my not so tech-savy family.
Finally, I also liked the public aspect of my blog, because it kept me accountable. Since I know people are reading, then that means I need to keep up with it. Something about setting it to private made me think I might not be as good at keeping it up. I might get lazy with it, or I might not try as hard, if that makes sense. You know how you write when you're just shooting an email to a close friend or family member. It's full of jibberish, run on sentences, spelling errors. Well, I didn't want the blog to become like that.
BUT... now that the kids are getting older, and it's getting harder and harder to conceal or anonymize who we are and where we live... I think, in the end, it's for the best. And to be honest, is probably the way I should have gone from the beginning. While there are so many cool things about belonging to the public blogger community, at the same time, I would hate to think that the thing that I love so much, this record of our lives, would in some way jeopardize my family.
So, with that... I set it to private.
I quickly sent this out to those who I know follow the blog. But if I've left someone off by accident, shoot me an email, and I will quickly add them to the list. Only those I've approved can access via login.
Anyway, I hope that made sense, and I hope it isn't difficult to login or follow our blog. And I hope you still will follow us... there's lots more in store, I'm sure.
4 days ago
