Today Goblin turns 40. For some strange reason I think that affects me more than it affects him. I wanted to create something where I could record some thoughts and pictures of all the things that amuse and interest me (not many - so you won't really be that entertained here). Hence I decided to try "blogging" and see how I got on with it.
I suppose as Goblin and I get older I realise more and more how one's life can just rush past and suddenly you realise that you forget to take the time to keep diaries and all those endless photo's you took are not printed off or even in albums. That is what actually started it all off. Photos. Let me explain how they came back into importance in our life.
My Mom actually started it off after my Dad died. His death was sudden, traumatic and shocked our family to the core deeply. I think it took about a year before we even started mourning because we were in shock first. My Mom got angry! She started doing washing (it has always been one of her passions - don't ask me why). That was followed by the reclusive stage which lasted about 2 years. That was followed by the scrapbooking. My Mom is one of the "doers" in life. She always comes up with a plan or solution for any problem. She is the rock of the family. Everyone turns to her and in a country where phones are expensive and poverty levels high she is the queen of "Please call me" text messages. She always phones everyone in the family back when they send one of those! Usually it is followed by a request and she will spring into action and make a plan to solve a problem for someone or sort something out. So when my Dad died it was really hard to know that my Mom was shutting down and cutting herself off. She needed the time to start healing. She started scrapbooking. Till the wee hours of the morning. I think it helped her work through some of her anger. She created a "Death" album and started keeping a journal in it about life, pain, suffering and death. It doesn't have too many moments of joy in it, but it is a brilliant record of how challenging and hard life can be. Maybe one day she will start a "Life" album.
She has done numerous albums now. They are wonderful memories of the family which include all the newspaper clippings she has collected over the years of celebrations and moments we are proud of as a family. Of course there are the death notices too. She does have a wicked sense of humour though, because she included Elvis and Lady Di in her "Death" album. She told me this was because "Those are the only two celebrities I really liked and it was like they were part of our family. I don't like any of the others (celebrities) that much".
I realise this is now starting to sound a bit morbid and appears that we are trapped in the depths of despair, but that is not what it is like. We are like any normal family. We have happy and sad times. Good and bad things happen to us. We laugh and cry like everyone else. We are not unique or special, just as unique and special as every other person and family out there. We are complicated and simple like every other family.
I suppose it is just the challenging times that make you take stock and think about your life. Those moments are the ones that you look back on and see a point where you make decisions about how you want to live. You decide how you want to remember. That is what lies at the core of my blogging – life and how we live it. That is why I am going to start this online journal. My handwriting is awful and I know I will keep forgetting where I saved the file on my computer if I keep it private, so I decided to “blog”. If I forget where it is I am sure I can search Google and it will help me find it again ;)
I suppose as Goblin and I get older I realise more and more how one's life can just rush past and suddenly you realise that you forget to take the time to keep diaries and all those endless photo's you took are not printed off or even in albums. That is what actually started it all off. Photos. Let me explain how they came back into importance in our life.
My Mom actually started it off after my Dad died. His death was sudden, traumatic and shocked our family to the core deeply. I think it took about a year before we even started mourning because we were in shock first. My Mom got angry! She started doing washing (it has always been one of her passions - don't ask me why). That was followed by the reclusive stage which lasted about 2 years. That was followed by the scrapbooking. My Mom is one of the "doers" in life. She always comes up with a plan or solution for any problem. She is the rock of the family. Everyone turns to her and in a country where phones are expensive and poverty levels high she is the queen of "Please call me" text messages. She always phones everyone in the family back when they send one of those! Usually it is followed by a request and she will spring into action and make a plan to solve a problem for someone or sort something out. So when my Dad died it was really hard to know that my Mom was shutting down and cutting herself off. She needed the time to start healing. She started scrapbooking. Till the wee hours of the morning. I think it helped her work through some of her anger. She created a "Death" album and started keeping a journal in it about life, pain, suffering and death. It doesn't have too many moments of joy in it, but it is a brilliant record of how challenging and hard life can be. Maybe one day she will start a "Life" album.
She has done numerous albums now. They are wonderful memories of the family which include all the newspaper clippings she has collected over the years of celebrations and moments we are proud of as a family. Of course there are the death notices too. She does have a wicked sense of humour though, because she included Elvis and Lady Di in her "Death" album. She told me this was because "Those are the only two celebrities I really liked and it was like they were part of our family. I don't like any of the others (celebrities) that much".
I realise this is now starting to sound a bit morbid and appears that we are trapped in the depths of despair, but that is not what it is like. We are like any normal family. We have happy and sad times. Good and bad things happen to us. We laugh and cry like everyone else. We are not unique or special, just as unique and special as every other person and family out there. We are complicated and simple like every other family.
I suppose it is just the challenging times that make you take stock and think about your life. Those moments are the ones that you look back on and see a point where you make decisions about how you want to live. You decide how you want to remember. That is what lies at the core of my blogging – life and how we live it. That is why I am going to start this online journal. My handwriting is awful and I know I will keep forgetting where I saved the file on my computer if I keep it private, so I decided to “blog”. If I forget where it is I am sure I can search Google and it will help me find it again ;)
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