Happy Bloggaversary to Me!

Yes my friends, my blog is one year old today. I would have a cake, and eat it too, but I'm heading to the beach for the day tomorrow, and one less piece of cake certainly can't hurt.

Once upon a time, I actually put pen to paper, and kept an actual journal - in the beginning, it was definitely a diary - "Dear Diary, I sat next to Cindy at lunch today. We both had peanut butter sandwiches." (circa first grade). Sometimes, it was a whinefest (I can't believe how fat I am - did I really have to eat that Pat's Cheesesteak, the cheese fries, and the icecream sundae??). Other times, it was just a scratchpad of things to do (remember laundry, or no underwear!). Many a resolution was broken (this is the last time, I swear I will never drink again!), along with a broken heart or two (I can't believe he dumped me again!). Each year, the buying of the journal was a ritual - as if the quality of the book would somehow improve the quality of the writing. But, my writing was self-indulgent, and not always helpful. A small depression could last for days as I dwelled on it entry after entry, in long wordy prose, adjective laden, and morose. A crush could last longer than a heartbeat, and die an absurdly long death, as I examined every angle, tortured every minute comment or glance that would be thrown my way. At some point, I began to ponder who my audience was - who am I complaining to? And, it occurred to me that my journal was really a letter to the person I was becoming, and would eventually become.

Now, I have tossed aside the paper journal - too many resolutions broken? too much advice from the past Wendy to future Wendy unheeded? Or perhaps, my incessant obsession with myself, and myself only had finally just become too damn boring.

Then, I started blogging. It never occurred to me that it was anything other than a whim, and that it would completely supplant the journal that I had kept since I was old enough to write. I was reading Rosie's blog one day, and I noticed the little flag in the corner that said, get your own. Huh . . . I could do this . . . and since then, blogging has become almost as big an obsession as knitting. From learning HTML, to discoverying the immense/supportive/equally as crazy online knitting community -- it's become part of my daily routine, as natural as picking up my pointy sticks, and often, more satisfying.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who has been reading the ol' girl for a year. I love your comments -- it makes my knitting more fullfilling when it becomes interactive. The other day, I was walking down the street, and this woman grabbed my hand. My first reaction was to jerk away - but she said, don't be scared, I just wanted to tell you what a great lawyer you are, you're just great, she gushed, I was one of your jurors on the La Salle case. I was tickled, of course. And, I'm equally as tickled when anyone leaves a comment - I've gone from writing to a future Wendy, a complete stranger, to a a new group of cyberfriends who are less strange, less uncertain - since we all share the same passions in the here and now, and, thankfully, a whole universe of yarn!

And, to kick off the new blog year, I'll be posting pics, hopefully tonight, of the first 2 legs of the Happiness Happens Here Half of a Half Marathon. I took Tulip off the blocking board this morning, and replaced it with the finally finished Clappy - and, just perhaps, I'll have a cocktail in celebration of my bloggaversary at the pool tonight - just a thought . . .