WOW.
Hello!
Where does a girl like me begin…an old photographer, an old writer, an old friend? It’s been a while since I’ve been here, but my favorite life phrase ever might be “better late than never.” I’ve thought of my blog almost daily for the last two-and-a-half years (!!) and I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back. Stepping into this space tonight was like walking into my actual home – home to My Hive! – a home for my penned thoughts, my bouncing creativity, and my expressed love.
If you’re in My Hive sharing a few minutes of your day with me after all of this time, thank you! You might be my kind neighbor from college, my steady sister, my elementary school bestie, or my precious grandma. You might be my dear roommate from my study abroad, my husband’s sweet aunt, or a fellow mama half-way around the world that I haven’t met yet. Goodness, at this point, you might even be my teenage daughter! Whomever you are and wherever you are, if you’re reading this today, I love you! Who has time for an old blog anyway? Nobody but an old photographer, an old writer, and her friends.
My life during the last two years has been beautiful, albeit me being silent about it. I’ve grown and changed a lot, while simultaneously staying pretty much the same. How that happens, I do not know, but I’ll raise my hand right now and tell you that it’s true. Our souls are steady as life pushes us because, you know, “no challenge, no change.” And yet as we bend and break from all the things that life is, we smile our same smiles and we love our same loves. I still sing, I still dance, I still love creating beauty, and I still love to talk. After the last two years’ experiences, though, I think I do it all with just a little more heart. And isn’t that how it will always be? The years we live through will be variable, but come what may – whatever we’re given to experience – let it move us to live our ordinary lives with just a little more heart.
I have every intention to be here often. I told you – I’ve thought of my blog almost daily since I wrote last. I love it here! And I need to write. For whatever reasons, God made me a deep thinker that feels best when she shares. He made me a creator that loves beauty deeply! I’m happiest when I’m making or enjoying lovely things and passing them along. I’m in a season of life where I have no time to do anything but the essentials (hello, my five, big, incredible children!!), so spending the few spare minutes of my daily time budget here on my blog? Well, I’ll let that speak for itself.
Every blog post needs a photo or two, so here are two shots from last week of my Duke and me. Three-year-old Duke is with me on the daily and I am soaking him up. It’s going fast, this raising-babies thing! Olivia is 13, Claire is 11, Emmy is almost 9 and Chloe is six months away from 7. I know. They’re old and big so yes, I’ve learned: since Duke will be 10 tomorrow, I am soaking him up.
See you soon, my friends!
XOXOX,
Jeni
