My first post here was on 9/15/06. That is ten years ago last week. The picture above was taken a couple of weeks before my first blog post.
Ten years ago.
It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago that I thought, hmm, let’s try this. Like all anniversaries, this one is an opportunity for reflection, and there are a great many ways my life is the same as it was that day and even more ways it is wildly different.
I have been blogging for a meaningful chunk of my adult life. This place and the community it has introduced me to is a very important part of my daily existence. I can’t imagine life without A Design So Vast. I have printed out my annual blog posts every year and, hard bound, they take up half a shelf. I guess that is my “book.”
We are rooted, and we are moving. We are stagnant, and we are dancing. I have T.S. Eliot’s lines from Four Quartets in my mind (now and very often):
we must be still and still moving
Maybe I am not moving enough, here or elsewhere? I do feel like I’m repeating myself a lot, writing about the same things over and over, even as some shifts are apparent (I write about Grace and Whit far less than I used to, most vitally). So on this anniversary, I’d love to return to something I used to do, which is ask you what you want to hear about. I’d really appreciate your thoughts on things you’d like to hear me write about. Questions, thoughts, ideas. Please bring them on! Thank you in advance for anything you ask or share.
This picture was taken 10 years to the week after the picture above, in the same city. So much changes, so much stays the same.
Lindsey – Congratulations and importantly THANK YOU for sharing your thoughts for 10 years. I have told you often that your posts get my brain going; they make me reflect and consider my life, my reactions, my plans. I don’t make much time in my life for this contemplation, it more often feels like a just-in-time roller coaster, where I make decisions and adjustments on the fly, but I read your posts regularly and I rely on them to put little nuggets in my memory that do influence those decisions. I would guess that many of us have shared more tears and laughs as a result of your posts than we have told you about. Congratulations on the touch you have had. Bisous
I love your posts on book recommendations; also love all of your Friday quote posts. But really I enjoy anything you write. Happy anniversary. Your blog adds so much to my life!
Happy Blog Anniversary! I love your book posts and your interviews with working moms:).
Firstly, congratulations! Ten years is a significant milestone for anything, but particularly for something that requires as much dedication as blogging.
Secondarily, thank you for sharing your thoughts on life in this space. I enjoy and appreciate your posts very much.
And finally, as to your question, my favorite posts of yours are you My Favorite Things, What I’m Reading Lately, I Don’t Know How She Does It, and any post about your experiences of motherhood. Your kids are a handful of years older than mine, and I rely on you as a resource of what’s to come. As best I can tell from your posts, I admire the balance you bring to parenting, and am thankful for your more restrained style of child-rearing in what often feels like a sea of “more is always better.”
Again, congrats. And again, thank you.
Hi Lindsey,
At first I held my breath because I though it might be a, “It’s time for me to move on” post, and I’m so glad it’s not! (But I understand why sometimes that’s the right move for people). I totally know what you mean about feeling like you repeat yourself, but it doesn’t feel like that as a reader. I think you have a good instinct for where the story is in daily life. Maybe “more of the same” isn’t a helpful response, but then again maybe it is? I would love to hear more about how you print/bind your blog…maybe that’s good coffee talk. We’re due, when you get some time! xoxo j
I am interested in pretty much anything you have to say: your thoughts on family, parenting, change, books… Any of it.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful comment … I really, really appreciate it. And know you wrote this before going to bed – don’t stay up too late! Love to you, dear friend. xoxo
Thank you so, so much. It means a lot to hear that. xoxo
Thank you! I have to get back in the saddle on that series! xox
Thank you so, so, so much for this thoughtful comment. And for your incredibly generous email this weekend. I feel fortunate to know you. xox
yes, we are due! And I do sometimes think if my time here has run out, but for now at least I’m not there. xox
Thank you so, so much. xoxo
Congrats, my friend!! 10 years shows serious commitment. How lucky are we to have benefitted from your dedication. Your writing is so lovely and introspective – your words have made me slow down and notice the world around me. Thank you for sharing yourself so generously.
xoxo
Congratulations on ten years! What a milestone.I want to know how you print and bind your posts!!
My favorite posts are the ‘My Favorite Things, posts, and, of course, any about books.
Congratulations on this milestone!
I discovered your blog not so long ago, but have really enjoyed your writing on duality and (im)balance, of motherhood, time, life.
I can identify so much in this and really enjoy the way you write in general. Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us!
Many congratulations on ten years of blogging. I came across your posts very recently and I go back to your archives and read at least two posts a day. There are posts that I repeatedly read (This is thirty eight, for example). I absolutely adore your words and the way you express yourself honestly. Keep writing, and if you publish your posts as a book, I am sure to buy one for myself and copies for my friends too 🙂
Good luck!
Happy ten years and many more! Thank you for sharing your heart.
I’m with Justine! I say “if it ain’t broke.” I don’t think any changes are in order unless there are topics you’ve been holding back on for reasons that aren’t necessary. (Other than the parenting topic, which I get is more for their privacy, a very valid reason. I have the same one for my blog.)
Congrats on 10 years. I LOVED those two pictures and I love your blog.
I love this space so much. I hope you have some sense of how much it means to so many people. Coming here feels like the peaceful pause button in my too-noisy life. I’ll read you on any topic, so my vote is for you to just keep writing, in whatever form or on whatever subject suits you at the moment. Be it more of the same or breaking new ground or pulling back the curtain on some thing you’d never thought you’d share.
10 years. You’re incredible. So much love to you…
(And WOW about printing and binding your posts–I just love that.)
Always reading…xoxo
Congratulations and THANK YOU for these past ten years! Your writing is always thoughtful and lovely and grounding, please keep doing what you’ve been doing! I especially appreciate your book reviews/recommendations and your musings on parenting maturing kids. I also have a soft spot for your sunrise and sunset pics…my son is in college north of Boston and I secretly love knowing what his sky looks like, it makes me feel connected from a distance.
keep writing it. i will keep reading. and looking forward to it all.
Congratulations on writing here for 10 years! That is a commitment!
I think I found you through Rilke blog, you left a comment there and I clicked on your profile which brought me to your blog. I enjoy reading all of your posts, you introduced me to many authors I never knew before. Thank you for sharing your stories and reading lists with us.