Happy Blogoversary: Five Years On

Five years ago I logged into Blogger and created In My Life. Months of cajoling and cheer leading by friend and mentor at Little Bytes of Life gave me the courage to jump off into the deep end of the social media explosion.

A title for my blog wasn't difficult to come up with; one of my favorite songs by Lennon and McCartney. The first post? Awkward. Reminds me of those many awkward junior and high school moments. I was known as "the new girl" on more than five or six occasions - who knew I'd be drawing on those experiences forty plus years later?

While I visualized the blog as a place to share my family history it wasn't long before some of the things that are important in my life began showing up front and center: photography, biking, our line of Anahar cocker spaniels, creative writing, love of all things celtic and travel ... just to name a few.

Five years ago I was someone with a camera - today I describe myself as an amateur photographer. Thanks to my husband (who has yet to create his own blog or web site), not only do I have a live in mentor but some very cool equipment.

Five years ago I was happily enjoying retirement - today I am back among the gainfully employed enjoying a new career in social media.

Looking back on five years of blog posts, I see the ebb and flow of my life - contributions to the Carnival of Genealogy and the absence of posts when life demanded more of my time, redirecting creativity in a different direction. The bittersweet photos of our beloved English cocker spaniels who shared every part of our lives five years ago that are now gone - anniversaries, birthdays and celebrations of friends and family continue to reach beyond the boundaries of today - a reminder that family history is not something that is part of the past: it happens every day of our lives.

Five years ago I had a difficult time coming up with three categories that described my blog. Today, I have a difficult time picking just three of those categories. While I had visualized In My Life as a way to share my family history with carefully organized family lines neatly arranged like my silverware drawer ... five years later In My Life has happily evolved into a hodge podge junk drawer. 

Thank you to everyone who follow In My Life - your support, encouragement and acceptance of "the new girl" has been a very large part of my inspiration. In the spirit of so many other family history bloggers, I have taken your gift and will continue to gladly pay it forward.

Copyright (c) 2013 Cindy Bergeron Scherwinski