It's been nearly two years since I touched this blog. Life goes on.. and sometimes passes quickly before you know it time is, indeed, flying...
I have two separate parts my fingers are yearning to write about (probably more, but we'll start with two....)
The first is what drew me back here. The second is what I found when I came back.
What drew me back here was a question from a friend seeking advice on how to help another individual in her life struggling with her ADHD. I spent nearly an hour giving her (possibly too much) advice and thoughts and tips and tricks.
What brought me back here was thinking I could either start a new blog or add to this blog some life lessons and strategies on ADHD and living with it, and how to help someone who is challenged by it. (And I may - I have ADHD, so it isn't happening until it actually happens).
But what amazed me is what I found when I returned here. Blogger is still capturing my statistics and in theory bots are still finding my words inspiring. Maybe there's a real person still out there who stumbles across me but it isn't as if I'm doing any active publication or advertising of this blog. (And if a real person does stumble across this, please feel free to leave a comment and say "hello"!)
Blogger tells me I have 321 posts in here (including this one) of which I have published 283 posts.
My wife likes to joke that she kills bloggers - once she finds one she likes (no, she doesn't marry them all) they tend to stop writing. (She also believe she has the effect on restaurants. My wife is a very powerful person - so stay on her good side, or wait, don't because if she likes you will die... Um.. now this has taken a very awkward turn).
But I took a (brief so far maybe longer after I finish typing most or all of this) trip down memory lane. Some things I have observed:
1) I have stayed fairly true to my character (including telling some of the same stories) - I am much the person I was when I was writing the early posts. I'm not saying I haven't grown, or have new stories, just saying the nature of myself, my messages, generally remain the same.
2) I have no memory of some of what inspired these posts or the individuals I may be referencing. I really wish I wrote a "blog behind the blog" so that 12-13 year later me would remember who was struggling and who I had inspired and where this "new" story had come from. (P.S. Future you - today was Debbie)
3) I still favor positive messages over negative ones - "Love yourself" for example.
4) I had made a lot of friends doing this who I have lost touch with and my memory of them has faded. I am grateful that I had made friends along the journey (including my wife who happens to be sitting next to me as I type), but sad that many of those relationships were lost along the way (primarily when we lost Twitter back in 2016). To those of you who might read this - say you subscribed, etc, - thank you for being here for me, and hope you are doing well.
If I were to start writing again, there is another theme that I could develop, but would probably be overwhelming. That is being an American living in Canada. (I have since I last published, btw, become a Canadian, too). But that is just a teaser, perhaps.
Perhaps if I read more before I posted this post, I'd have more universal truths. But for now, I'll just hit "post". Until we meet again, dear readers.