A Ton of Posts

A couple of weeks ago and while scrolling through posts in search of something specific, I discovered that I recently passed 2,000 posts here on Chasing Roots. I could barely wrap my head about writing 1,000 posts back when I reached that milestone, so to know I've more than doubled that number blows my mind. 

Interestingly, 2,000 posts is such a high enough number that I truly can't remember some of them. Just for fun, I went all the way back to the beginning and found a few from the first couple of years that I have absolutely no recollection of writing. Most posts trigger at least some tiny memory, but these don't - AT ALL.

• Welcome Home, Dear - about how coming home from work in Michigan differed than coming home from work once we moved to Texas. (Think critters...)
• The Story of Hallie (Told in the Words of Graphic T-Shirts) 
• Conference on Planet Crazy* - about my first and perhaps most bizarre parent teacher conference.
• Peace* - about an airport encounter with a soldier leaving for deployment.
• Destructo Preschooler* - about what Hallie used to be like as a two- and three-year-old.

* After reading these posts, vague memories of the events they describe have returned. I still don't remember writing the actual posts though...

At some point I realized that life makes more sense - at least to me - in written form. Flannery O'Connor once shared, "I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say." As confusing as this explanation may seem, it suits me. When I step back and assess my life big picture-style, I struggle to understand it all. But when I think through my experiences, write them down as if I'm explaining them to others, and then read them back to myself, my life comes into focus. Through the lens of this blog I more clearly recognize where I've come from, where I'm going, and how to get there.

As I did when I celebrated 1,000 posts, I'd like to again extend my thanks to those who've been with me since the beginning (I believe that includes a grand total of five people: Tom plus my mom, sister, mom-in-law, and sis-in-law) and to all of you who've joined me throughout the last 13 (?!) years. I am extraordinarily grateful, because it's your support - visiting this blog, reading my posts, and commenting here and on social media when you feel moved to do so - that allows me to do what I love.

Happy 2,000th post anniversary (a little late), Chasing Roots. Cheers to many more.

Here's my first Chasing Roots post, and here's where I wrote both before Chasing Roots came to be and then for a little while overlapping with Chasing Roots. (Tom wrote our family blog at first, and then I took it over when he transitioned to professor life.)