Why I Blog

Blogging is to want to be writers what karaoke is to want to be singers. In other words, it is mostly amateur hour. Yes, I have heard an occasional very good karaoke performance, and there are some excellent professionally written blogs, but for the most part, we are just hacks talking about lives and events that the general public could care less about.

My father blogged in the primitive form of daily diaries. Of course he did not use the term “ diary” and he had no concept of what a blog was. He simply called it “ writing in my little book”, and write he did, everyday for years and years. Each entry was carefully dated including the time it was written. Entries were usually about what transpired that day such as a doctor’s appointment, or a trip to Spokane, and always, there was a weather report. Dad always meticulously  documented the weather and the time of sunrise and sunset. My dad was a fanatic about time and weather. As a matter of fact , as he was passing out of this world, he motioned for me to lean over, and in a strained whisper, he said “Son, what time is it?” I had to laugh.

I have all of his hand written blog books, and one day I sat and read through most of them. I laughed and cried, sometimes at the same time. Dad was in a lot of physical pain the last ten years of his life, and none of us fully understood just how much he hurt, but as I read his daily writings, I found out. I also found out why he was able to keep going, and what drove him through the pain day after day. He felt like he had to stay alive to take care of my mother. Family was not just important, it was the single most important thing in his life. I looked at this journal the day my mother passed, and I saw that that page had been torn out of the book. There were no more entries after that date, and 11 weeks after my mother, and his beloved wife passed, he left this world to join her.

I would not trade those precious books for all of the money in the world. I hope that my children and grandchildren will take care of them when I am gone.

And so, I blog on . Yes, at one time I aspired to be a writer. I wrote a lot of things when I was younger. I had some of my writings evaluated by professional writers, and they said I had possibilities as a writer. So, what happened? Life. I got busy, and forgot how much that I enjoyed putting my thoughts on paper. About seven years ago, Go Figure and I came across each other’s lives again via Classmates, Com. He told me about his blog, and suggested that I try it, too. I did, and now I am hooked.

Someday, maybe my grandkids will come across my blogs, which I am sure by then will be as primitive as my dad’s journals were. But, maybe, just maybe, they will read them, laugh, cry, and get to know me a little better, even when I am gone.

So, why do I blog? Because I want to.