Keeper of Memories, Keep on Keeping On

Turns out, in case it wasn't obvious, I love having Blogger on my phone.  I'm too verbose and hashtag-unsavvy for Instagram and I don't particularly like Facebook as a platform for expression.  It's not even about privacy or branding or corporate ownership or messaging because they're all owned by the same companies/individuals in the end anyway, and who even has personal data that isn't being exploited anymore?  

For me, it ultimately comes down to a forum that feels most similar to a fresh, blank page.  Promises of infinite possibility. A deep cleansing breath. A new way to view an old problem. Another means to gain perspective, sometimes on something I didn't even realize was troubling or worth observing.

I love how easy it is to pull up a new sheet here and dig into my image gallery and see what pops up.  Sometimes the days are such a blur that it is a genuine surprise when I flip back through my camera roll.  This past Sunday when asked I completely and utterly blanked on what we did the day before.

I love the stories that come out and the reflections or thoughts that occur to me as I am posting. This blog doesn't aspire to any highfalutin literary prowess, but it empowers me to be a scribe of my small circle, to create and record all the small and big pieces that eventually, hopefully, make up a rich, colorful, densely woven mosaic. That seems mighty and powerful, wild and precious. 

When I was much younger, maybe not even half the age I am now, my nai nai told me to try to jot down some thoughts and events each day, essentially to keep an aide-memoire.  At the time I thought that a really idealistic and lovely but ultimately burdensome thing to do, and was too busy focused on living and not so much on recording.

She must have already known how fast time flies, how quickly things that are fresh become lost and buried in our mercurial memories.  She has lost her short term memory for a while now, which  makes the wisdom of her earlier advice more prescient than ever.  

It's funny to realize that but for a few extended breaks here and there, I have ended up, through this very forum and without specifically intending to, doing what she suggested. My record is much choppier and sporadic than a daily memento (especially in recent years, which is a shame because living through protests and Covid in Hong Kong are epic and historic for so many reasons) but I suppose that is why I am rejoicing at the decision to try posting via a mobile device. It's not great on my thumbs but it has allowed me to return, with greater enthusiasm and urgency, to something that I love so much. Writing. Steadfastly recording and remembering, storing and keeping, and keeping on.  What a blessing and revelation this has been for me.

I leave you with some fun and random pictures of the boys in various stages of play: