Happy anniversary! (Of sorts...)

September 5th, 2008: a calendar date of no particular consequence...a random weekday...a Friday just like any other. I wouldn't mention it at all, really...except for the fact that this date marks when it all started...well, at least this blog, anyway! Now, please don't feel compelled to go back and look at the inaugural post--I already checked for you, and I can offer my assurance that it was simply a brief paragraph written about (appropriately) choosing a name for this endeavor.

You see, I've been writing for as long as I can remember--okay, that's not entirely true. My earliest memory of crafting anything longer than an elementary school sentence came in 2nd or 3rd grade, when we were assigned to come up with our own short story (on looseleaf paper, complete with pencil-drawn illustrations. Yes, I still have it. It's terrible...and adorable...).

So, not an ounce of drawing talent, clearly...

That must have sparked something, because next I attempted (in my obviously abundant free time) to fashion a mystery novel. (What can I say? I was 8, apparently super-ambitious, and naively confident in my ability to pull something like this off. Oh, and also VERY into Nancy Drew...and Scooby Doo, if I'm being totally honest...) So I used a legal pad, and my looping cursive covered the fronts and backs of 33 sheets of paper, top to bottom, left to right, with no blank spaces left for margins. Then apparently I got stuck; I'm not sure what happened, but I seem to recall that there was some sort of conflict with a ghost (see previously-named influences), and in my tragic inexperience, I'd backed myself into such a corner, narratively, that I just couldn't figure out how to get myself...or my characters...free from the quagmire. (Yep, I still have the unfinished manuscript. It's an absolutely unreadable mess...and also unbearably precious...)

From there, I (wisely) decided that fiction definitely wasn't my thing, and instead channeled my inner author into obsessive journaling. And by that, I mean "chronicling every ridiculous moment of tween and teenage life". I'm serious--I spent heaven only knows how many evenings scribbling in pastel shades about boys, and girls, and clothes, and all the silliness of adolescence. ("My crush talked to me today! I wonder what that MEANS!" For pages...and pages...and pages. I'm not kidding--I had stacks of spiral notebooks filled with this garbage...it was both nauseating and mortifying...I pitched all of it once I grew up...)

But something about the process stuck with me, and as an adult (finally!) I continued to record my (infinitely more interesting, mercifully less angsty, and rarely vomit-inducing) adventures...using nicer books, but still with a penchant for the colorful pens I'd adopted as a youngster. And then, it all came to a screeching halt when--no big surprise--the kiddos came along. Suddenly there were people to take care of 24/7, and fatigue, and few, if any, brain cells to spare for frivolous tasks like trying to describe the day-to-day routine (Eating, sleeping. errands, or a million childcare-related things--none of which really seemed worth sweating over preserving for posterity...)

The chapter titles alone, dude...

And then, after some years had passed in the quiet normalcy of family time and everyday living, came...the Grand Epiphany of 2008, if you will. It's no coincidence that the first entry appeared right around the time that Riley started Kindergarten. Suddenly I regained just a little bit of spare time...and what felt like a whole section of my intellect that had been mired in the...ahem..."joys of childhood"...Thomas the Tank Engine and the Wiggles and Dr. Seuss and the like. With both boys safely ensconced in the hallowed halls of learning for 30 hours a week, I realized I not only wanted, but NEEDED to resume writing...something. Hence that short, tentative, toe-in-the-water trial of 9/5/08.

The real work came later, over the next 10 years...1,035 stories...41,000+ views...and many cherished comments on Facebook. And that's not to mention the stats I can't even begin to calculate, like the sheer volume of WORDS involved, and the countless hours spent toiling to wrangle them into submission in my head, and then shepherd them from my fingers to the keyboard to the screen. (And then to rearrange, cut, and/or embellish them further, to try and make them funnier, or clearer, or at the very least, less like a hyperactive squirrel took over my brain and banged out a bunch of nonsense on my laptop. 'Cuz that's always been my deepest, secret fear, y'all...)

Or how many times I actually took liberties with the language by intentionally butchering innocent little collections of letters (for FUN--that's right, I'm a sadistic word...mangler! Mwah hah hah! ), or by choosing to exercise my..Artistic License...and recklessly making up new ones. (Memo to Me:  renew that permit regularly, and never let it lapse, or I'll be in deep trouble with the Prose Police...) Hmm...what else...oh, yeah how about the many times I've freely and unapologetically utilized--let's call it "inventive punctuation" to suit my fancy? Wow, the list of my transgressions seems to be fairly extensive, so I'm gonna call a halt to exploring the...shady side...of my little wordsmith venture, 'kay?

Yes! Professor Snape shall be my inspiration from now on!

I've gotten off-topic here anyway. (I know, I know: SHOCKER!) I  just meant to wrap up by saying that I believe we've come to another crossroads. With one child having gone off to college, and the other in High School, there aren't going to be as many Tales of the Boys. They're making up (and starring in) their own sagas now, which sometimes are not going to be mine to share. I'm also no longer privy to every wise-cracking comment they make, so I can't always jot them down and post them later. (RATS! I soooo miss that, I'm not gonna lie...)

Don't worry--this isn't me waving goodbye and disappearing into the depths of cyberspace, never to be heard from again. I'm just saying, we may have arrived at a point in which we're all going to have to... evolve a little bit, my friends. So I'll do my part to, I don't know...adopt some fresh hobbies...or pick something interesting to study...or focus on developing a new skill...to give me fuel for my ramblings. And in the meantime, please bear with me during what might prove to be a humdrum phase of...ordinary. But hey, you never know--I might get bored pretty quickly, and decide to drop everything and travel the world--now, those would be some spectacular posts! Stay tuned....