I have moaned and
whined on this blog before about getting behind in my posting and in visiting
my favorite blogs. Well, I was tempted to fret over my failure to post about
Father’s Day on Father’s Day.
Although it does take
me longer and is a bit more difficult to post than it was before my stroke two
years ago, my pattern of missing self-imposed blogging deadlines has been
present ever since I started blogging in November 2009.
Missing those
deadlines has caused me more angst than I care to admit, but I think I am on
the way to breaking that particular pattern. Oh, I am certain I will continue
to set up deadlines for myself and miss them. But I am steadily beginning to
conquer the dismals and the blogging paralysis that used to accompany the
missed deadlines.
The example of our
daughter-in-law Katie and her blog The Daily Skup have been largely responsible
for the change. Katie is one super busy wife, mom, daughter, granddaughter and
friend. Her circle of extended family and friends is large, close and comes
with abundant can’t-miss celebrations and activities.
That means the events
and observations she is documenting during her children’s growing up years are pretty
much non-stop and accompanied with tons of photos that she and our son take.
There are times when
Katie simply has to choose to let her blogging slide while she takes care of
responsibilities, sees to the health and well-being of her family or . . .
gasp, gets some shut-eye.
She said she makes a
few notes in those busiest of times, keeps photo files in chronological order,
and eventually finds some blocks of time to post. I have devoured her recent
“catch-up” posts of photos and commentary on events from December 2012 to February
2013 as well as the occasional current updates on her little ones.
She slips those
prompt reports in for the benefit of me and other out-of-town relatives,
friends and fans of Molly Kate and Walker. Her ultimate goal is to turn the
blog into a series of hardcover books of memories for her children.
It dawned on me that
my purpose for Retirement Daze is similar--to remember impressions and
experiences from this stage in my life.
I’m retired, and I
have enjoyed the freedom of spontaneity that has come with retirement. That
freedom frequently interferes with posting on a schedule that my previous
experience had programmed me to think of as the “right” time to publish.
But the reality is
that I no longer work for a newspaper with tight deadlines. And I no longer
work for an educational and research institution with multiple overlapping
deadlines.
I have begun to
realize that I also no longer have to be ruled by the idea that old news is no
news. In retirement I am now dealing with memories, not news. The shelf life is
longer.
After several false
starts, I am now following Katie’s example. Tuesday I posted some Father’s Day
observations--two days past the day of that observation.
Now if I could just
follow the example of one of my other daughter-n-law’s admirable practices. She
is the queen of prompt and seemingly painless decluttering.
I am not giving up
hope. But regrettably, I would rather blog about fighting clutter
on the home front than take action. I know I can change.
It can be tough, especially when you have a whole lot that happens all in the same week. I still have many posts of things we did years ago, and have not posted them yet! It is a common but frustrating blog problem. BUT who would want to have so much boring time on their hands that all their blogs were perfectly on time...
ReplyDeleteAdhering too much to a schedule kind of takes the fun out of retirement. Blogging should never be a job but a pleasure. Do it at your own pace.
ReplyDeletei think it is good that you don't let blogging rule your life, it is for FUN not WORK... blog when you want about what you want and we will read it...
ReplyDeleteYup, me too. Blog when you want and about what you want.
ReplyDeleteI have printed all of my blogposts in book form, one for each year.
Its like a photo journal for me. Its a way of preserving my memories and hopefully for my family later on.
The one unfortunate thing is I can't post my kids faces on my blog. It goes to too many people just out there and they have asked that I not do it.
So....
they are pretty much missing picture-wise from the books.
Still it is a good record of my Hubby's and my life for the last 8 years or so.
Keep doing what you are doing and as Sandra says...we will read it.