the perfect present

So, as you can probably surmise by reading the dates on this blog, I have not been very consistent with making entries. This is largely due to two factors: first, and I believe any writer will relate to this, is my feeling a clear sense of purpose (or a lack there of) in posting here. I ask myself, Why am I writing this blog? I mean, I can see several themes as I look over my previous posts. This blog is -- and was initially started as -- a place of thinking things through, almost like therapy. But I also find myself wanting a place where I can record important events in my life, especially those that have to do with my role as wife, mother, etc .... At other times, I think it is nice just to have a place to share important advice, life lessons if you will, that I would like to leave for my posterity. Finally, I feel I'd like to use this blog as a place to think about and record spiritual insights, although I do that somewhat already in my gratitude journal ...

Then this past Mother's Day, May 2009, my DS, 22, gave me a most wonderful present, which is really funny, because I told him I didn't want a present per se. I had asked him for simply a letter or something, and he did oblige me by writing a most heartfelt epistle to me on his own blog.

But he also found me a gift at the bookstore. When he told me he had bought me a present in addition to writing the letter, I protested, to which he replied, "Mom, wait until you see this gift. It was so YOU, I just had to get it. I know you'll agree once I give it to you." Well, DS was right. He gave me a book entitled, List Yourself: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery. And yes, this is probably one of the most appropriate gifts he could give me because I LOVE stuff like this! If I weren't a teacher, I would so be a librarian or work in a bookstore. I love reading biographies, autobiographies, histories, and anything that has to do with real life.

What my son did not know was that this book would provide a jumping off point for my blog! And the cool thing about these prompts is that the answers can go anywhere I want them to, fulfilling the multiple purposes I'd like to have with this blog. I am really excited to incorporate the prompts in the book into my postings here, and I invite anyone who would like to join with me to do so, perhaps on their own blog. I am greatly looking forward to this adventure!