Success!!!

I met the challenge! I have added a post to my blog for every day the kids have been in school since we moved to London. They haven't all been works of art, but that wasn't the point. I think I was mistaken about what the point of Chris's challenge was. I don't think even he knew what the importance of what he was asking me to do would be. He thought he was giving me a project, something to keep my mind on in this new city while I was home alone. That worked. It was a success. But more importantly, I was successful in getting hooked on writing again. I can't imagine stopping.

This blog has been a wonderful way to keep in touch with so many different people. There are people in several different provinces and states reading it; people I talk to regularly and people I hardly know; people at my stage of life and people with whom I have nothing in common. Some leave comments, some have signed up as followers. Some occasionally send me an email or Facebook message to let me know they appreciate the blog. My most devoted follower has to be my mom. She lets me know that she notices if I haven't posted anything before 3 o'clock in the afternoon! I have other friends that I have hardly talked to in years, with whom I have been able to reconnect through this blog. I love that I can just put my thoughts out there every day and somebody back home is going to read them. Somebody back home is going to know what I'm thinking or feeling that particular day. The ones back home that I miss so much can still be part of our daily life because I can share it with them so easily.

When I was in university I wrote constantly. Nothing was real unless it was recorded in my journal. Those journals were not for public consumption. In fact, I went back and read them last year, and I don't even think they are for my consumption anymore! My writing was very personal, very private. I still want to write to preserve the thoughts and feelings I have today for the future. But now I also want to write to make a connection with people. I am writing for me, because it brings something alive in me that is really powerful and freeing, but now I am also writing because it can bring me into people's lives on an ordinary day and we can share something. I love it.

So today is the last day of the challenge. But today is clearly not the last day of the blog. I still want to open up my window on this journey and share the view. It's the last day of school, so it will not be as easy. I won't have regular alone time to reflect and ponder what I'm going to record each day. But I'm hoping I'll still be able to manage 3 days a week. It may be more difficult when I'm on vacation in NB. I won't have regular access to a computer, and I'll be far too busy, either visiting with friends and family or soaking up the sun with a good book. But I'll be back. I promise.

Tomorrow I'll write about my kids' last day of school, report cards, vacation excitement. Today I just have to add one photo, of the poem Janelle wrote on the card she made for her teacher. I hope you can make out what she wrote. I think we may have another budding writer in the family!