Why A Blog? And Why Now?

For many years I sent personal e-mails to those we love all across the country just to stay in touch. Sometimes I couldn't remember from week to week which family members I had shared what with, and occasionally someone felt left out if they weren't made aware of something that others knew. I could sympathize, since we often felt left out when we'd hear after the fact about trips our kids had taken, milestones our grandkids had reached, or other newsy events. So a few years ago, I decided to send a weekly e-mail to everyone at once. My intention was for all to get the same details, but my overriding hope was that everyone else would do the same, thus keeping the entire circle equally informed and feeling a little closer.

Those regular "Monday in St. Louis" notes were sometimes short, only a few sentences, and sometimes way too long. A few elicited comments from several recipients, while some others were probably deleted before being read through to the end. All were composed with love, and while they worked to let others know what we were up to, they failed to create the round-robin communication I had hoped for. So sometime this spring I just stopped writing them. But I'm a writer at heart, and writers have to write.

Thus this blog - Grits & Graffiti. Since I'm just posting and not sending it, family and friends can read it or ignore it. And since it's meant to scratch my writing itch, I'll go beyond merely recapping or announcing events in our lives. If you choose to follow it, you'll never know what the topic will be, but I'll try to sidestep the yawns. And please feel free to comment, although I retain the right to pre-screen your posts - more to respect privacy and preclude spamming than to exercise any particular power of censure.