8 years ago today...

*source*

Monday, April 10, 2006

hello!

That's the one word I wrote to begin this blog eight years ago today. 

The following 956 posts have just been another way to say the same thing.  

So, hello again, world.  I'm so glad to meet you here in this space.  Except for maybe changing diapers, there are not too many things I've repeated almost 1,000 times in my life.  

I've always said the purpose of the blog was to be a sort of incubator for my words.  The ones I very much want to share with the world, but are waiting in line to be straightened up and shared properly in proper publications.  I still say that.  

But this space -- and more importantly -- those of you who sit and converse with me here have become a home for my words.  A plain little home as I've physically lived in 6 different houses across two states, holding a handful of different jobs, graduating two kids from high school and, hopefully growing up a good deal myself.

Thank you for your grace, dear friends.  Thank you for showing me hospitality, welcoming my words into your lives, introducing me to so much beauty and goodness and truth.  Thank you for being -- in a virtual space -- very real and very dear to me.

Just to say Happy Anniversary to the blog, I thought it might be fun to share five of the top 10 read posts of all time. Who knows how these analytics were gathered.  It could be that they are the top posts read by web robots. Nonetheless, I share them with you:

• Liturgy of a Laity Lodge Retreat [the gathering] (unbelievable to me that when I wrote this post I had no idea I'd be living in the state within a few years)

• Liturgy of a Laity Lodge Retreat [the word, part 1]

• from the book pile, 2011: Mary Karr, Julia Cameron, Susan Wise Bauer, Image Journal, No. 70

• 7 Quick Takes: All Saints Day and Saint Trey + happy things that happened before we were sad

• Parenting Unrehearsed (8): Why we send our kids to a [broken] public school

And just for fun, the post closest to April 10 each year since that one-word beginning in 2006.

2007:  another beautiful red sky this morning

2008:  Once, once again:  Book Reviews

2009:  Binghamton is grieving

2010:  Good Friday at Union Center

2011:  Getting ready for Sunday at Union Center: April 10

2012:  from the book pile, 2012: Wendell Berry, Madeleine L'Engle, Brennan Manning

2013:  Second week of Eastertide with CIVA, Caravaggio,Ordinary Time, yours truly and the Gospel of John

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Thank you for celebrating with me. 

 I'd love to hear what posts have been your favorites!

*photo credit:  Death to Stock Photo