Remember these things

I’ve never been interested in writing a blog. Who has time for that?

Me, apparently.

Maybe it’s the fact that I was part of the IBM layoffs two weeks ago, and I now have time to think about the documenting I’ve neglected while trying to divide my time between work and motherhood. Maybe it’s the fact that my life has changed so much in the past year (had a baby, lost my mom, got laid off), that I feel the need to write some things down, for the little bit of permanence that writing things down brings. Or maybe it’s the fact that by the grace of God we somehow find ourselves the owners of ten acres in Raleigh, and we’re just beginning the process of transforming it into a place we can call home, and how fun would it be to document that!? Whatever the reason (or combination of reasons), I am overwhelmed by the need to make sure that my family remembers the goodness of God in our lives. My heart races (in that bad way) when I look back, even on this past year, and realize how fuzzy the memories already are. I seriously have a nightmare where Will is in Kindergarten, and the teacher asks all the kids to bring in their monthly pictures from when they were a baby, when their mom put them in the same chair, with the same teddy bear, and they wore a onesie with a number across their chest each month to show how much they’d grown. In my dream, every kid has these pictures of themselves except Will. It’s one picture, once a month. How in the world have I neglected to do this? I may be nine months behind, but I’m going to try to retrace Will’s progression. Maybe that’ll be my first post. Oh the pressure.

My purpose, again, is to keep memories sharp in the minds of my family members, particularly Will’s one day. If I can document some of Will’s milestones (so he has something to take to Kindergarten) and document the evolution of this property we’ve been entrusted with, and whatever else I think needs to be remembered (and can be shared in this venue), then I’ll be really happy and my heart can start beating at its normal rhythm again.

For now, I’m keeping this blog private. I think I’ve always had a “thing” about having my own blog because I don’t want my mind to start presuming that other people care. And I don’t mean that in the false modesty, self-flagellation sort of way (I know people care), but I just mean that social media can do that unhealthy thing to our minds, making us presume we have an audience and believe we’re something when we’re not. We choose what to post and what not to post about ourselves, right? So, in the spirit of documenting for memory’s sake, here begin the Thomsen family memories. Note to self and other Thomsens: Remember these things.