Beginings

I have always been somewhat of a private person. I have always had a few, very close friends and I am careful about with whom I share information about my life. On Facebook, I periodically go through my friends lists and delete those who I have not had an interaction with in a year or more. I am careful about how I update my status, and what I write in response on my wall. 

And then there is blogging. 

Although I occasionally read the blogs of others, I have never wanted to have a blog of my own. That is, until now. You see, I have always thought of blogs as being slightly narcissistic. Another example of how people today add fuel to the fire of leading self-centered, individualistic lives. I do not want to be that type of person, if I can help it. 

I began thinking about starting a blog in the past few weeks, going back and forth between wanting to create one and not. For me, the appeal of starting a blog is not in the excitement of expressing my opinions, or exposing my life. Actually, it is for those reasons that I am quite turned off to the idea of starting this. The main reason I want to start blogging is this: I want our friends and family to feel like they are connected to us although we may be worlds apart. 

This big change in our lives will challenge the relationships with those we love, as we are forced to place distance between us. With all the recent goodbye's, this has become all too clear to me. I can hear the challenge in the tone of voice, the look in the eyes, and of course, in the phrases, "keep in touch". I am not stupid. I know that when people make big changes in their lives a lot of people end up being left behind simply because it is just too difficult to keep everyone updated. My hope is that this blog may take away a little of that challenge, that it would spur conversations, and that those we are close to actually can stay in touch with us as we begin this new journey. 

That being said, I am attempting to keep some of my privacy in tact even in my blog. I will not be using our names, it will simply be: J* and I. I have turned off the settings for my blog to be found in search engines (easily that is), and to be highlighted on blogger.com. For these reasons, I am asking you to keep this word of mouth.

 If you are a friend or family member who knows someone that may like to keep in touch with us, share our blog with them. I will try to let people know that this is available, but I can't be sure to find everyone of course! :)

I also have opened up the settings for anyone to be able to comment on my postings. That way you do not have to have a compatible account to leave a message. You can click on the "Anonymous" link to ensure your email is not attached to this page. So feel free!

J* and I love you all, and we hope this blog helps as we start our new adventure!