Dear Diary July 31

Today you are 17 years old ... Happy Blogaversary!

One of my favorite quotes goes like this:  "New beginnings are apt to be shadowy."

Man oh man, weren't they?
It was months before my earnest-but-inane posts garnered a comment.  Honestly, I think the only reason I kept on was boredom.  Loneliness.

All the same I kept on, rolling this way and that.  Not unlike this Lillian Hellman quote:   

"Old paint on canvas, as it ages, sometimes becomes transparent.  When that happens it is possible, in some pictures, to see the original lines: a tree will show through a woman's dress, a child makes way for a dog, a large boat is no longer on an open sea.

That is called Pentimento, because the painter 'repented' (changed his mind).

Perhaps, it would be as well to say that the old conception, replaced by a later choice, is a way of seeing, and then seeing again."

Eventually, I stopped trying to fit in places I didn't belong.  I discovered my tribe.  Some alike, others dissimilar as Chex-mix.  Each a blessing.

Many non-bloggers don't 'get' it, but I feel closer to some of y'all than my own family and long-time friends.  Who'd have guessed?

So, Thank You.   Seriously.  Thank you for your empathy ... for chuckling at my silly stories ... for allowing me to feel heard.  And Valued.  That's a biggie.

Now?

As sometimes happens when I feel rudderless, I might ask, "What's my Purpose?"
I decided that should be my Word for the Year.   Except I never really followed through.  Until recently when I came across these 7 little words in my Max Lucado devotional:

"Face the future by remembering the past."

Cue the goosebumps.  
My blog name actually comes from the locket I once gifted my mother.

Roughly translated, Respice Prospice means "Look to the future and remember the past."  How cool is that?   

Not rocket science ... but neither a lame Purpose!

Let's finish well; it's worth the wait!

Hugs, Myra