Growing up I found having my bedroom in the basement very convenient because I was able to keep track of where everyone in the house was at all times. I recognized the gait of each family member as they walked around upstairs, and I’d keep a mental note of where they were. Downstairs, my brothers’ rooms were right next to mine, so I always knew who was there as well.

There are many reasons it’s useful to know where everyone is; let’s just say, sometimes I’d like to avoid any parental entanglements. So, if my dad was in the office just down the hall from the top of the stairs, I’d have to be extra quiet or he might hear me. But if he’s in his bedroom, I’m quite safe to just stroll on up to the kitchen to grab a snack really quick.

Yesterday I attended my 4th funeral in a year, and my 10th in 10 years; most of them for loved ones who left far too soon by suicide. I also missed some other funerals I’d have liked to attend over those years. I luckily had a chance to ride to this funeral with some friends who I loved, but had never talked about anything really personal or deep before. As we talked it was fairly light and reminiscent of our lost friend, but we all shared a bit of our other recent losses. They had lost friends, family, and loved ones too, and this was our second funeral this year we’d been to together. It’s interesting to me how a shared experience helps you share more of yourself with others than you normally would.

Last year I used #NaNoWriMo to inspire myself to write something. Anything. I ended up writing a single personal essay that, looking back, was quite foundational for much personal growth this year. It was also the instigation to finally starting this blog and trying to give myself permission to write stuff just because I want to.

This year I don’t know that I have something transformational like that again, but I want to write a post each week and have 4 ideas queued up for that. I may swap something else in as I go, but I’m looking forward to getting a couple of these in particular out.

I know #NaNoWriMo is supposed to be about starting a book draft or something, but I just see it as a writing motivator regardless of what.

So, hopefully we’ll see more post here soon! :)