100 & Counting...

It's a significant day. Realistically, when I started blogging in June of 2014, I had no idea there would still be words and stories in my head. Pretty secure in saying, I'm the only person who's read every single one. And more than once. Ugh. Instead of celebrating this milestone, I decided to read the first 99 again. My eyes, my eyes. My head, my head. I tried to remain objective. Hoping to see them from the perspective of reader instead of inept writer. I was determined to find at least 10% worthy of reading more than once. This is going to be a hard sell. Some arm twisting and bribery may be involved.

 

Yay Neese...

While none of the 99 are hysterically-pee-in-your-pants funny, a couple are mildly amusing. One or 2, heart-breakingly sad. The rest are just snippets of my life, family and the Hubs. All of whom wish I would never mention them again. Or in the first place. But, it's always been my story, and mine to tell.

 

For the love of God, put a cork in in...

 

To commensurate with my eyes-glazed-over-for-days from reading, muddling my way through these blog posts one more time, I thought it only fair. The crazy, loyal, commenting folks who read this drivel get to suffer right along with me. Yay. The mighty few. Unlucky. Ones.

 

Pretty sure of my counting skills here...

 

The first 3 months of blogging can be described as resembling rapid machine gun fire. I was posting every 3 or 4 days. The stories of my childhood (told quickly in case I forgot), losing my brother Larry in 1958 when I was 7. Our rather strange home life after that life shattering event. My Dad, who found the Lord, but had little time after for anything else in his life. My Mom, never recovering or able to move past losing Larry. Becoming over protective towards me. Stifling at times.

 

That's the way I remember kindergarten...

 

Since those early months of rat-a-tat typing, I've found a comfortable rhythm with my writing. Every single time I think there's not one thing left to write, type, share, a story pops out from nowhere. I just love those. A subject or story I never considered. A thought might smack me in the head hard enough to cause a goose egg. Holy cow, where did that come from? How come I never thought about that before? Do you think this happened now so I could write about it?

 

Luke, I am your father...

 

In my early days of blogging, right after I hit publish, I'd start writing my next story. Leave it alone for a day or 2, make some changes, and hit publish again. Not so much anymore. Now after I'm done with a new post, I mull for a couple days. Somewhere, somehow, (This part is unknown. Part scary, part exhilarating, part creepy) an idea forms. Not always worth writing, but usually. At least to me. And that's why I write.

 

What will I come up with next???

 

One of the most unusual aspects of writing is the unknown part. I have a story in mind, but once my fingers start typing, the story seems to literally have a mind of it's own. Weird and strange. I swear it's not me. The story just tells itself. There have probably been 5 times I've started a story. One third through, the whole gist of the story has changed. Here's a prime example. The story I remember writing was going to be about my best friend when I was growing up. Char. Started off with how boring my Sunday's were. Gong to church on Sunday morning, changing clothes, big dinner, visiting my grandfather in Sioux Center. Holy mackerel, 1500 words in, I was still talking about Sunday's in the life of Neese. Not one word about Char had been uttered, er typed. Ran with the Sunday theme since I was nearly done and saved my dear friend Char for another post. How in the world does that happen? I truly don't know.

 

Ok, I'm sneezing...

 

Now this has droned on long enough. Sometimes I can't stop the words. It's like having your good moral compass on one shoulder, and the devil typist on the other. That little devil keeps tapping away. Be gone, devil!!

 

Little stinker works at his own pace to boot...

 

 

OK we're talking about some of my favorite stories. Are any particularly well written? No. When the little devil is furiously typing away, the words sometimes just sort of appear. If I stop for 2 minutes, trying valiantly to come up with a clever phrase instead of, "he asked," instead saying, "he cautiously inquired," I might lose the next 3 sentences already on their way from small brain to small iPad. Can you feel my pain? My daily writing hope is that new, innovative, clever, different, unusual words and phrases will leap their way into my blog. Only to find after I hit publish, I said, "he asked?" A vast vocabulary has not been my strong suit. I'm really sorry. I keep thinking I will improve, then read yet another, "he asked?" Sigh.

 

Happy, happy 100th Neese...

 

 

I'm not quite sure how my blog looks on other devices. On mine, the story appears as my first written paragraph and my first picture. All of this surrounded by a green background with dandelions gone to seed. Along the top right side, there is a picture of me. Underneath, the small scoop about Neese. It will say, August, 2015 and the name of each blog post for this month. Listed under that are months dating back to January. Below that has 2014. So if I wanted to see a post from March of this year, I tap that month. Up pops all the posts from that month. If I want to go back farther, I tap 2014, the months from December to June show up. "Where it began," bleats Mr. Diamond.

 

Thanks for all my blessings God...

 

These are some of my favorites. Was surprised that I initially jotted down about 20. Eh, some were not very good upon further inspection. So I wheedled it down some. They're not in any particular order, but I'll try to list the most recent favorite first, going back in time:

1. "Ariana." May, 2015. The story on one of the best gifts I've ever gotten. My fabulous granddaughter. Thanks God.

2. "Becca." May, 2015. A woman of God who tries to help and support a sinner like me. Plus take care of her flock. Hint. I'm the black sheep.

3. "Opposites." February, 2015. After 45 plus years of marriage (to the same guy) it suddenly it me. Hubs and I are really very different. Who knew?

4. "Man on a Mission." January, 2015. The dedication of my 91 year old Dad.

5. "The Jug." January, 2015. Mom's unusual saving methods. She was such a great saver. One of her best, most unique qualities.

6. "The Middle." December, 2014. Joshua, my middle child. Best. Ever.

7. "Landon Andrew." December, 2014. Although it put me in extremely hot water with his sister Peyton 11, (it was simply the word nipple) my smart, sports junkie grandson. "Drew" to the rest of the world. You'll see.

8. "Bye Dad." November, 2014. Tough one. Losing your last parent.

9. "Called." October, 2014. I literally felt compelled (most of my life) to nurture and visit the elderly.

10. "Decade of Dangers." How did I manage to rear children during the dangerous 1970's? Still, all became amazing, hardworking adults. Beats me.

11. "Party of 5." September, 2014. Adam, my unplanned, surprise breech baby. Very much needed and welcomed to complete our family.

12. "Preliminary Steps." June, 2014. The quirky study of Dad's odd construction projects over the years.

So here's the deal. I don't expect you to read all these stories. But I would like you to read a couple. Take your time. I'll wait. An hour. Tops. Kidding. Just give it the good old college try here folks. Especially if one seems unfamiliar. Maybe a word or 2 about what you liked or hated. Though most of my tormented, spiteful ones did not make my favorite list either. That's odd. Read a couple of paragraphs. Then kindly tell me, yeah, yeah, yeah, # 3. Neese, now for the love of God, write something original again. Please.

I thought I would have big problems finding 10 or 12 stories that I still liked. I can be quite critical when it comes to me. But more still tug at the strings of my heart. If you find you are bored, stop cleaning the lint out of your belly button now. Or you have absolutely nothing to accomplish this day or week, remove the fork from your hand pointing towards your eye, get comfy and peruse my honorable mentions: "Life Lessons," "It's a Sign," "3 Amigos," all from July, 2014. "The Bonus," August, 2014. "The Farm," and "Mildred & Charlie," and "Charlie and Opal" from October, 2014. Last one, "Accumulating Losses," February, 2015.

Almost done. I'll leave you with an amazing quote I read this week. "I believe God opens doors. I believe He has my whole life. My job has always been to walk through them. So I did."

 

Can't take the credit, but thanks Ben Carson...

 

 

Sorry, not quite done yet. Quit groaning. I mean with stories. Still got plenty of words floating around my head. Thanks for letting me air out some of my favorites for my 100th post. Happy, painful, silly, uplifting, depressing, bored, never-ending-reading my pretties...

 

In a nutshell. From the bottom of my heart...