Jaunting and Rambling

As I sit down to write my very first blog post, I can't help but wonder who else, but me, would care to read about my jauntings and ramblings? I'm completely new to the world of blogging. I've never really been the kind of person who cared what was going on in other peoples' lives---at least not to the extent that I would want to follow their musings each day via a social networking tool. I care about one-on-one exchanges, individual lives, that sort of thing....Here, on cyberspace, I am about to become exposed to the world....A world, frankly, which has so much else to do than care that Heather is currently very excited about starting up an online tutorial service, or that I've been asked to make a double baby-shower cake for next week, or that I'm finally making headway on C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy, or that I just graduated from Teacher's College....

And yet, the need to write about it all---these little pieces which make up a, wholly, insignificant (or, I should say, simple) life---is irresistable. I have my former writing partner, Tamara, to thank for encouraging me to do this. Tamara said that every writer needs a blogspot. I was shocked, amused, horrified....What? Another thing I "have" to do! But I have all this time on my hands at the moment, so I wrote down "start a blog" on my Spring-Summer To-Do List and so here I am about to embark on detailing my jaunts and rambles. Will anyone else care to know? Probably not...At least not companies in droves. I suspect my family and a few friends may, out of kindness, take a peek---because those are the kinds of people God has seen fit to bless me with: the kind who care about what I'm doing (and Heaven knows, I've always got something up my sleeve!). I suspect I will enjoy reading back on these notes every now and then as a way to recollect where I have been, what I have come to, and what things fascinated me at any given time. Basically, this is a dream-blog, meaning that I wish to write here about all the things that make me insanely glad to be human and alive!

My friend, Cathy, and I were talking it over in the Gatineau Hills some weeks ago. We were musing about the need for good news, about the way we both felt we needed to familiarize ourselves with what's going on "out there" but at the same time feeling deflated in the attempt. Right now, if I were to turn the t.v. on or thumb through a newspaper, I would find something about the oil spills, about a suicide bomber, about some murder, about the rising tide of abortions and same sex-marriage legislation....But what about all the glorious stuff! You know! The fact that it's Springtime and rainy outside. The fact that nothing cures any ailment better than a cup of tea (preferably enjoyed by the pot-ful from little cups that require you to stick up your pinky to enjoy it). The fact that, last weekend, a deacon and his wife traversed our home and blessed it and that we crowned Jesus "King of our Home." The fact that I'm learning, for the first time, about the wonders of Classical Education (how on earth did I ever get to be 30 without exploring this approach to education?). The fact that out of my tiny brain is growing this amazing novel which, although it has far to go to be worth reading by anyone but me, is becoming something beautiful by diligent work. The fact that a woman I don't know took the time to write to me this morning (a very lengthy email) in response to my query about starting a tutorial service. The fact that my friends, Rebecca and Renata, joined me on Monday to inaugurate our encyclical study on Pope Benedict's letter, Deus Caritas Est. The fact that my brother---who is a paragon of health---is doing such an amazing job leading a bootcamp and I've had the pleasure of being part of it....Oh, the list goes ever on and on....

So, these are the things I'm going to write about, as much for my own sanity as for anyone else's. This is to be a sort of catalogue of wondrous things: the big and the small. Too often to do we go about completely unaware of the things which daily brush up against our lives, which enrich and enliven us. This year, for me, has been (and continues to be) all about clarification, clarity, illumination....light flooding in. Knowing. Seeing things as they are. Seeing with God's eyes. I suspect reflecting on the things which make my heart luminous will help shed a bit more light on my own path. Maybe on yours too?