apple juice

As I sit here at my computer, there is so much to be thankful for. My family, friends and neighbors. Our careers and schools. Our city, and state and country. I’m thinking today about the many people in our country who might be celebrating Thanksgiving with much less, or not celebrating at all. And then, when I expand my thinking beyond our borders and seas, to the people in other countries who are searching for a better life, or who find themselves entangled in conflict, likely through no fault of their own. It’s a lot to comprehend.

I hope we’re still moving towards a future where the arc towards peace, safety, self-determination and freedom is as apparent and attainable as it is for our small corner of the world. Elections matter, the world over, and we’re seeing those outcomes play out, sometimes delayed, sometimes immediate. Nobody really reads my blog anymore, but I hope for anyone who does, that you are informed, involved, and take the responsibility of voting seriously.

I believe it is ultimately the free people of the world who can affect the change within our governments necessary to create equitable conditions for everyone. We won’t get there through violence, hate, intimidation, but simply through our love for each other and a mutual respect for our common humanity.

I saw a post recently on another long time blog celebrating their twentieth, or possibly twenty-fifth year of writing continuously on their blog.

That struck me and I checked on my blog, twenty-one years ago I started this thing. (It was a post about our then puppy, Yeti)

I can’t even come close to saying that I’ve written here “continuously” but I am marveling at the thought that this blog is basically still working.

With all of the obsolescence (planned, or not) out there in technology, to keep something running for twenty plus years does deserve to be celebrated, I think.

A fair bit of nostalgia for that simpler past on the web has been creeping in for me, once again. I miss a lot of the old sites I used to frequent, and the conversations that were happening. Perhaps a sign of getting older, perhaps it was actually better in some way back then. I know that feeling I felt back in the early aughts is still out there, but at least for me, my day-to-day revolves around all of the people right in front of me, physically, and it feels like there is far less time to connect online…