Facebook Is Fun, But... {A Return to My Writing Roots}

 

Once upon a time, I was a blogger.

On Thursday, January 18, 2007, to be precise, I wrote my first blog post and experienced the exhilaration of pressing the "publish" button and seeing words I had written within the refuge of my home become available to others all around the world.  Not that many of those "others" ever saw my blog - I wasn't a big-time blogger by any stretch of the imagination! - but a few did, and I thoroughly enjoyed the cozy corner of community that I found through blogging.  

For four years, I kept up a fairly steady stream of posts there on that first blog, Life on Sylvan Drive; but on January 18, 2011, I posted my last one there and immediately started writing on a new blog.  That venture continued with great regularity for six years or so, then tapered off in the seventh, and nearly came to a standstill after that, with only one brief resurgence during the initial lockdown when Covid broke out in the spring of 2020.  

It's not the only reason for the decline; but certainly a large contributing factor was that I began to post much more often on Facebook, lured by the ease and speed with which I could, for example, take a picture on my phone, then quickly write a caption (or not), and post it right away, to be seen by friends and family and, from time to time, a few people unknown to me who somehow stumbled across something I shared there.  Facebook drew me in, and I savored the simplicity of connecting with others in that way, both through writing words and posting pictures that were seen by others, as well as seeing what they shared from their lives.  (Along the way, I wasted many hours on Facebook; but that's a whole different story!)

So why switch back to blogging at this point?  Am I planning to abandon Facebook?

No, not entirely at least.  I still intend to post there, though perhaps not as often as I used to - but then again, it might end up being just as often. Who knows?  The main reason, however, that I got the itch to start a blog again is because Facebook provides very little options for how to search for and find something that I previously posted.  If there's a story from my childrens' childhood that I want to send to the kids, I can't do that.  If there's a bit of parenting wisdom or experience that I want to use to encourage a friend, I can't find it and link to it on Facebook.  

But I can with a blog.

Last week, we celebrated Independence Day; and the question arose about our Fourth of July observances in years gone by (specifically, if Harrisonburg used to have a parade downtown on the Fourth - the answer is yes they did, but they no longer do that).  It took virtually no time or effort to look up blog posts from 8 or 10 or 12 years ago and send links to the rest of the family so they could uncover the answer to the question and enjoy the walk down Memory Lane as well.  

Facebook just doesn't give me that option.  And so, back to blogging it is, with a fresh start with a new blog whose name is inspired by our homestead.  God has brought us to this place, and I want to use this blog as a memorial record of His kindness and faithfulness to us as these next years - however many they may be - slip by. I believe my children will be grateful.  I believe I will be, too, when I am an old lady, sitting in my rocking chair, reading the words I scribble down today and gazing at the pictures that capture life in all its vitality right now.

"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." - Psalm 16:6