This Writing Thing

Life is changing and life is good.

Here I sit over 3 months later, finally writing in my blog again. Writing is not my greatest joy, but making and creating journals is fast becoming one. I have a love/hate relationship with writing. I like later reading what I wrote when I was in the writing mood, I love teaching writing. But the getting started is always hard and even harder for me is sticking with it. So for now, I'm going to keep writing  until I'm comfortable with this blog thing. I guess, if I'm going to someday write a children's book I need to become more comfortable. But, this leisurely informal writing is what I am most comfortable with, so that's okay.  I'll keep practicing and who knows when I'm 90 it will be time to put that first pen to the pages and write a book for children.  But for now, I'll keep sewing for kids, making journals and using them for things I use for notebooks and maybe some day one of those journals will become the book I someday wanted to write.

Heading Around a Different Curve

Change: Some people embrace it and some fight it with every last breath in them. I am one who loves it! Change my hair, my nails, my purse, I even changed my address from Missouri to Florida when I retired from teaching  because my husband and I thought, why not. Granted our only son had just graduated from high school, we were keeping the house (in case it didn't work) and we knew we could always go back, but we forged ahead with no jobs, a rental house but my brother and family did live here. However, the change has been awesome even 11 years later. We have great jobs (I'm a school librarian, he's an insurance agent) and have met great people.

I love the idea of reinventing oneself, if the old doesn't work try something new, I say. Now that I'm in my late 50's I again want to try new things like blogging, maybe an Etsy store with things I've sewn, get better at Instagram and who knows what else.

 I got my sewing machine 33 years ago from my husband our first Christmas so I could mend. Hogs and cattle didn't care and insulated coveralls were the only fabric I'd really sewn on except for an unwearable dress I'd made in high school Home Ec. Enter a daughter-in -law moving into the log home we'd vacated who saw a sewing machine.  I moved that sewing machine and with her thoughts that I must be able to sew, I learned. When she was pregnant with Jaxon, our first grandchild, she  found things on Pinterest  and I decided I could make those things she wanted. Thanks to YouTube, Pinterest tutorials, and sewing friends, I knew, I was making more burp cloths and baby blankets than anyone needed. With a granddaughter 4 years later and many great nieces and nephews arriving, I continued to practice and sending on to them homemade gifts the better I became. Had it not been for welcoming change that 30+ sewing machine would still be in Missouri. She figured I could and I wasn't going to say I can't.

Now that menopause (the change) is a part of life and retirement looking me in the eye again I'm thinking there could be more changes. So I'm following bloggers who create pretty planners, who sew, who quilt, who paper craft and some who just write. I'm watching YouTube channels of these people and deciding I can do that too, why not? It's not too late to try something new, to improve a craft, to try to see what could be down the road. My mother-in -law once said, "ask questions, it lets someone else feel smarter and you learn something as well." I have found that to be so true.

So here's to change, to life long learning, to heading for that curve down the road and not knowing what will be around that bend. Bring it on!