A week ago, WordPress sent me this message in my Reader:

Happy Anniversary with WordPress.com!

You registered on WordPress.com 15 years ago.

When I read this, I thought I don’t think I’ve been blogging quite that long. The keyword was registered. I checked back on my first post, and it was published on 2011/09/28 at 3:02 pm.

In reality, I have blogged for about twelve years. It took me three years to get enough nerve and confidence to blog. Now, that would be my looking back. Looking forward to me means more time with my family and projects I’ve had on the back burner for years, finally being finished. The most current is finishing, editing, and getting ready to self-publish a work of fiction I started years ago. Looking up, well, for those of us who follow Christ, that is a constant, daily way of looking at life. I worry about the state of our world, but if I have as many years ahead with the blogging as I have behind me, I intend to keep blogging!

There were a few years when I blogged daily. There also was a year when I didn’t have anything to say. I might write and post more sporadically now, but I don’t intend to give blogging up. Why? It’s all of you, of course. I love connecting with people all across the globe this way. I consider blogging a blessing. Thank you all for reading, and also, thank you so much for posting about your lives. Thank you for offering fun and inspiring challenges for the times my thoughts are stagnant and I need a prompt. I appreciate all the challenges.

The photo I included was taken on the path between Cedar Lake and Washington Lake Park in Washington Township, NJ. It reminds me to keep looking up and forward and enjoy the times I look back too.

A little postscript: I smile when I can’t remember how I did a project or gardening tip and have to search it out in my blog to jog my memory. Does this ever happen to you?