I am so very grateful when I’m feeling really great- I have the ability to really “hear” music and enjoy it. Music starts my day each morning, my “get ready for work” karaoke session, much to my family’s chagrin. (No one else is the happy early riser, but they love me anyway)

I have always listened to the melodies, learning that, giving more importance to that, before the words, until I met Joe. “Listen to those words, incredible”, he would exclaim as we wore the grooves out on the DECADE record by Neil Young. (Sometimes I would listen to words, sometimes I wouldn’t. Time of day and how I was feeling was the predictor.)

After a great day of work, and I just happened to find Echo of the Canyon music documentary on Netflix, I was hooking with Tom Petty playing some riffs with Jakob Dylan. I was mesmerized and sat thru the entire thing- a rarity for me. I encourage you to check it out. I’d love to hear your thoughts and how music moves you! (Had to say it) Lastly, the talent we have in this world – miraculous.

www.greensboro.com/beloved-sister-s-death-leaves-a-gaping-hole-in-family/article_7cdef0c5-c8aa-580d-ae07-8910beffb1ca.html

(Courtesy of News and Record)

I hang onto things, especially from childhood and all the drawings, cards, school things from the girls. Ephemera – and we had a box of things stored with Cyd’s things from her college apartment. Sister let her store several boxes in her garage – our living room was stuffed. The sad thing- more things were lost because of water damage in the basement. I guess if I really cared about the things so much, I would have known it was there and not put it in storage in the first place. It’s molded, destroyed – some pet portraits I did of the pups, now passed on. It is just things, stuff, shouldn’t matter. It does and can’t be replaced especially stuff from my sister, my childhood, artwork from Carly and Cyd, cards from Grandma White. Stuff. What’s next? Anger, ready to toss everything and just light a match- stuff. Just stuff.

After 40 plus years of my sister-in-law and me being family, I reached into my purse for lipstick (after enjoying V37 shrimp with lemon grass at I ❤️ Pho), I dabbed on the Estée Lauder. She exclaimed, “that is something I never thought I would see you do… putting on lipstick”. Funny that her brother said, ” your chamber job really changed you and made you more of a woman”. Ahh what happens when you dye your roots and moisturize, they noticed… heavy sigh.

Maybe a matter of time- Cyd graduated last year, different coming home after school, but I do not like this “empty nester” term. I like being a mom and having my girls with me. And that means Oscar the Husky mix has flown the coop too. I know, “we raise our children so they can flourish and grown and go out on their own” blah blah blah. Well, lonely with my bestest buddy gone- only three days and I miss her mucho. That’s all the whining on the blogpost for this day. Over and out….

Seems like the best time to start as any- so here I go with a project by me, for me- and hope to help some other folks along the way…(self included)

This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right.

You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here.

Why do this?

• Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog?
• Because it will help you focus you own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to do with it.

The post can be short or long, a personal intro to your life or a bloggy mission statement, a manifesto for the future or a simple outline of your the types of things you hope to publish.

To help you get started, here are a few questions:

• Why are you blogging publicly, rather than keeping a personal journal?
• What topics do you think you’ll write about?
• Who would you love to connect with via your blog?
• If you blog successfully throughout the next year, what would you hope to have accomplished?

You’re not locked into any of this; one of the wonderful things about blogs is how they constantly evolve as we learn, grow, and interact with one another — but it’s good to know where and why you started, and articulating your goals may just give you a few other post ideas.

Can’t think how to get started? Just write the first thing that pops into your head. Anne Lamott, author of a book on writing we love, says that you need to give yourself permission to write a “crappy first draft”. Anne makes a great point — just start writing, and worry about editing it later.

When you’re ready to publish, give your post three to five tags that describe your blog’s focus — writing, photography, fiction, parenting, food, cars, movies, sports, whatever. These tags will help others who care about your topics find you in the Reader. Make sure one of the tags is “zerotohero,” so other new bloggers can find you, too.