Monday, June 25, 2007



Well, it's a pretty chic thing these days. Celebrating that blog anniversary. But I was in Italy last year on my first blog anniversary so this really is my maiden blog celebration, even if it's my second anniversary.

As a child, I loved pen pals. Loved 'em! I had some faithful ones but never one as faithful as me as I was always, no matter the pen pal, the last, the final, to write. I began to write other things in high school, poetry, and so I gradually lost that childhood experience of correspondence and expression that I had so enjoyed. So as an adult, I come to an odd place in the road and I can't tell for sure why it's odd and where I am. It's takes me the better part of two years but then I figure it out: it's odd because I have been here before only under different circumstances. I know this place! It's really changed but it's the same place, I'm positive. It's the pen pal place only now they call it a blog. A blog!

The last time I was blogging was in my bedroom at the house my dad built for my mom when they moved to Idaho after the war. I would sit and scratch away on pretty paper at my little wicker desk and then seal the envelope with a flourish and stamp it and mail it. Oh how I loved laying it all out on paper and waiting to see what came back from far away (Wisconsin!) amazing places. I was the only girl in a family and neighborhood of boys and my amusement and entertainment was created by me, for me. I loved hooking up with these people from all over. Of course, in those days, you hooked up with pen pals through various resources recommended and endorsed by your teacher at school. And little girls wrote to little girls.

These days I correspond with all kinds of people who live much farther away than Wisconsin and who represent a highly diverse slice of life. And I hooked up with them through my blog. I began this blog because I noticed that my children, all adults, corresponded with each other and their friends in a manner that was so different than how I had corresponded with my mother when I was their age. We picked up the phone and talked to each other. Six times a day. We were dead in the water without the telephone. My friends, too. And then my mother died of dementia and there were so many things we never got the chance to talk about and so many things she told me about that I couldn't remember exactly. Her illness was long and slow and we know now that she got sick when she was not too much older than I am now.

So I don't want my children to grieve when they can't remember me. Or remember for sure. I don't want them to have blank pages in their baby books or their instruction manuals. And I want them to know, to know always, that I am with them and that I was in love with them. It was my life's joy and honor to be their mother.

So in the process of making 'Notes From The 'Kan EWA' for my children don't I run into some of the most darling, intelligent, funny, erudite, fascinating people of my entire life? And reconnect with people from my childhood who, once lost, sparkle and shimmer in my consciousness once more? In the process of writing 'Notes From The 'Kan EWA', I live a cherished chapter of my childhood in my beloved hometown all over again. Like deja vu, only with a full tank of gas and a credit card with a high limit.

Blogs. Just never saw it coming.


JBelle
Bellemaison
The 'Kan EWA

16 comments:

Christy Woolum said...

I am just like you. I never saw it coming. I read Raymond Pert's every day. I actually got acquainted with you through your comments on his. When Silver Valley Girl started I knew this sibling had to join the fun. That week RP hooked up with HBO also. I hever thought I would ever learn so much and feel such kinship with so many people. I don't have children, but hopefully my dear nieces read it once in awhile! Happy anniversary to you. Did you also realize you were the very first person to comment on my blog? I remembered that beautiful face of the chow and it has been a pleasure to see those comments every since.:)

Christy Woolum said...

"hooked ME up" and never instead of hever...such as proofreader!

Idaho Dad said...

Congrats on two years!

When I started blogging, I never realized the world of people that would open up to me. Their experiences, memories, advice... It's all been so good, and unexpected.

I am a better person today, not just because I blog, but because I read the blogs of others.

It's a community that nobody could've predicted ten years ago. I'm just happy to be a tiny little part of it.

mamaJD said...

Last July I was making fun a friend when I discovered she was writing a "blog". I remember rolling my eyes and saying that she must not have enough to do.

My life thru the different blogs is so different than I imagined. Pen pals is the appropriate analogy. I wonder how many of us had pen pals? One of mine was from Japan. I, too, was the last to write.

The blog is different because you can create friendships and memories that often are private only to yourself. No one but me will care as much if someone, like you, drops by my place and leaves a "note". It's been great getting to know you, JBelle!

MarmiteToasty said...

(((((((JBelle))))))))) I am so glad that you began blobbing and I found you via bobs blob and then I was invited into Gumbyland..... I cant imagine now now having you as part of my life :).....

and the handful of others that I am getting quite attached to LOL

And one of the only reasons I started blobbing was to stop you gumby lot and davie boy over at dingleberries nagging me to death...... you write with such class and easy and style..... I love every word......

love you...... and happy anniversary......

x

JBelle said...

Much love to you all this beautiful summer morning. thank you for being my pen pals, my friends of choice. Gardener Girl, we share so much yet have enough differences to make it interesting. I have never been to Lake Roosevelt but want to go. I go to Russia at the end of July, Vietnam in November and India in January. This is why I can't get to Lake Roosevelt. I am going to make a list and then stay off airplanes for a year and get through that list. Lake Roosevelt will be at the top!

Phil if it weren't for you we wouldn't have gone to Kalaloch, which is one of the true greats. It's rare I don't learn something from reading your blog and you inspire me, leading the exact life you want and desire.

MamaJ, MamaJ! What an unexpected pleasure it has been to read you and hear you. We have that bond, that thing I have with all my girlfriends from Coeur d'Alene. For me, there is no one or nothing like a HomeGirl. Coeur d'Alene is special in ways to me that I can't fully understand. And you are now irretrievably wound all through and around that; all of it.

Meller, with 'Twaddle' now claiming a world-wide readership of 15,000 per day will you remember me when you have your own gardening/lifestyle how on the Beeb? Will you remember who said dammit Mel call it twaddle! everyday rubbish! get on with it! You are an authentic princess and such a light to me--the path is oh so much brighter because you're along. I say you and I make a list of every damn garden in the UK and then hit it. We'll see 'em all and check 'em ALL out!

... said...

Happy second anniversary!

I started blogging way back in 2002, but have only recently (since about 2004) started benefiting from the people who read and comment on the silly things I have to say, or the prose that I peddle online.

However, I say the best may be yet to come.

Oh, what's a "phone?"

Julie said...

Just last week, when I blogged about my Best In Show Winning at a local rose society, one of the photographers at work approached me about my blog. It appears that he liked it so much that he wants to start one of his own!

mapp said...

I started reading your blog when you posted a picture about a year and a half (seems like a lifetime) ago, of a boy and a girl who knew each other when...I love to read what is going on with you; helps me to feel like I'm still in touch. I'll try to be better about commenting! Congratulations on the anniversary!

The Fool said...

Hi Cheechako. Happy anniversary. I think this snippet says it all for me:

"So I don't want my children to grieve when they can't remember me. Or remember for sure. I don't want them to have blank pages in their baby books or their instruction manuals. And I want them to know, to know always, that I am with them and that I was in love with them. It was my life's joy and honor to be their mother."

I feel very much the same way about my relation with my children. Parenting the boys has been my greatest gift. Thank you for your reflection...and have a terrific Tuesday, friend.

JBelle said...

wow. wow. wow. wow. mapp. (((((mapp))))) So special to see you here. And that little boy and girl; oh my. OH MY.

Ford. Lord Foolish. This admiration and reverence is one thing we share; we cherish and savor. You have the uncanny knack for always*always*saying the precise right thing. Thank you. :)

MarmiteToasty said...

((JBelle))) yeah the garden thing would be good, right? and oh hush with the rest of your twaddle lol......

x

Carla said...

I identify. I too was always the last one to write. And I had no idea what a blog could / would become when I started. Congrats on the two year anniversary. You almost had me in tears when you started writing about your children.

Anonymous said...

And I want them to know, to know always, that I am with them and that I was in love with them.

I can't say anything. There aren't any words where I am right now.
At best, this: I love you and you love me and we both know and we "Know".

You are amazing.
Just stellar.
This is a gorgeous piece, Schmeebs.

--

JBelle said...

Julie, I wouldn't be surprised to see your blog featured in your paper. What a great gardening/lifestyle piece for your community.

Carla, Isn't that funny that lots of us share that unrequited fondness for pen pals? As I said, took me awhile to figure it all out. I love your blog and love it that you are near and you are Canadian. And you are SUCH a nomad, too! Thank you for being my friend.

Wendo Lee, You are among my biggest fans. That matters to me when I am blue; I know that if I wantd to sic you on the world on my behalf, you would, as you have told me "fuck them up good." :) Thank YOU for being my friend.

Ana Martin said...

Congratulations, jbelle. It's a beautiful blog.