In My (Blog-)Life. . .

Ten years ago today, I made my first entry into BlogWorld.  For those of you who are interested, you could follow the link to my old blog in the sidebar, and check it out (here is a link to the first month's posts).  Honestly, the first post itself was pretty. . . lame.  But it wasn't long before I was developing the themes which have been more-or-less running bits throughout the life of both of my blogs.

I originally posted under the pseudonym of Desmond Jones, cleverly lifted (if I may say so myself) from the Beatles' song, 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da', with its main character Desmond Jones and his happy union with his wife Molly, and their 'couple of kids running in the yard'.

My blog-life has actually had four distinct phases.  The first ran from May-August of '06, at which point I took a brief 'break', when it felt like I was putting too much effort and attention into my blog at the expense of other, more important things, like taking care of my family (which was really ironic, since a large proportion of my blogging material has pertained to the joys and heartbreaks of marriage and family life).

That 'break' was short-lived, and by September, I was back at it, maybe even more actively than before.  I like to think of this as sort of the 'golden age' of my blog; a disproportionate number of my favorite posts come from this period.

By the spring of '07, though, things were feeling a bit out-of-hand again, and so I shut my blog down again.  This time, I stayed gone for over a year, although I continued to visit and comment on the blogs I'd gotten to know in my months of blogging.

The third phase of my blog commenced in the summer of '08, when I started my blog back up for the third time.  And I've stayed more-or-less active ever since. . .

At the end of '09, I stopped posting to my original 'Running In the Yard' blog, and opened this current blog, dropping the pseudonyms (at least for Jenn and me; the kids have retained their original birth-order/gender designations).  I just moved to 'The Yard Next Door'; same blog, really, just dropping the mask a tiny bit.  And I've been here ever since.

Anyway, here we are, ten years on.  I've enjoyed blogging, most especially the friends I've made here, and the interesting people I've met (to the extent I can say we've actually 'met', or become friends).  Once, in the fall of '08, a few of us who live in the Upper Midwest got together face-to-face for a weekend in Indianapolis, which was fun.  I'd love to meet more of you all, and maybe I will. . . or, you know, maybe not.  We will see what we will see. . .

Blogging sort-of 'peaked' a few years ago (probably a year or two before I moved 'next door'; ironically, around the time of our face-to-face in Indy), and now there's just a few of us hardy hangers-on from the 'Old Days' (mainly over-50 geezers by now).  I honestly don't know how many more years I'll keep this blog going; for the past year-plus, the activity level around The Yard has been pretty low.  But I suppose, as long as I keep coming up with stuff to blog about and stories to tell (or, you know, re-tell), stuff will keep popping up here.  Until it doesn't.

Thanks to all of you who keep showing up to read my stuff (God only knows why); and especially those of you who take the time to leave a comment now and again.  I've really enjoyed it. . .

Ten years. . . Man, who knew? . . .

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Continuing on the theme of Retrospection (and just because I'm that kind of generous), I'm gonna give you all links to my most popular posts, or at least the ones with the most page-views. . .

Back to the Drawing Board, I Guess

The Best Man I've Ever Known

Place Names In Michigan

Another Book Post

John Chrysostom for Christmas

I Am a Nazarene

With My Body, I Thee Worship

And one from my old blog. . .

Growing Up In the 60s

Thanks for visiting. . .