Well, it was sometime around June that my husband and I talked about me using my post-9/11 GI Bill before it expires. I would have loved to transfer my benefits to one of our two boys, but both the hubby and I got out of the military before that was an option. So I've got this awesome educational benefit and no idea what to use it on. I'd have loved to have gotten a Bachelors in some kind of genealogy program, but it would have to be online and would also have to accept my benefits. There were some online programs, but not online degree programs. I was frustrated, but my frustration didn't change the fact that the clock was ticking on my benefits.
One weekend I was talking with my sister and she asked me why I didn't study photography. I almost always have my camera with me and sometimes my photos are actually semi-OK (my words there, not my sweet sister's), so I decided to give it a try. Yes...just like that! It's the same way that I decided to join the Army. My aunt and uncle talked to me about joining. Told me some stuff and it just seemed logical to me. I was sold. I looked at this as history repeating itself in a good way.
I still don't know what really to do career-wise with photography and genealogy is always the thing closest to my heart, but if I could find a way to combine them both (I'm still working on that...) I'd be in heaven! The college I'm getting ready to attend also focuses on making sure that you can use your skills in a career. Not just a here-have-a-degree-now-bye-bye sort of school. This appealed to me and I look forward to maybe them helping me to figure this all out.
But if my degree program takes me years, where does that leave my blog? How will I have time to blog if I'm taking care of my family and going to school full-time? This is what really kept me from hitting "publish" on any of the posts I started. I tried coming back to blogging last year and got overwhelmed again. I don't want to keep trying and not succeeding. It's not who I am.
Then I woke up Wednesday morning and realized that the anniversary of the great Peshtigo Fire had arrived and I hadn't prepared anything to post. I didn't want to just recycle posts from last year or the year before. This fire was meaningful to my family and I wanted any post to be just as meaningful. So I asked myself, "Can I commit to one post per week at a minimum?" and I decided that I could at least do that much. Maybe I'll get more out, but one post each week would be a good start. I've been away from the blogging scene for so long that I kind of need to figure it all out again. With Google Reader gone, most of my traffic is probably gone as well, but I'll have to figure out what everyone is doing to pull traffic back. It'll be painful although no where near as painful as the drawing classes I have to take for a photography degree! Seriously, I feel bad for the professor that has to see anything I attempt to draw!
So with that, I'm back. Not completely. Not full-time, but enough to not let this blog go away. I didn't start it to let it wither and die. This doesn't count as my post for this week and a Peshtigo Fire post won't get done this year. It's just too late to make it good. I'll be starting with a new series of posts on Friday called "Family Reunion Friday." I'm sure I'm not the first Geneablogger to create a series of posts like this, but I know that I've got a lot to say about Family Reunions even though my experience with them is limited. I've got tons of clippings from family reunions on my husband's side of the family to share too so I'll be going between giving input on family reunions and sharing clipping transcriptions about reunions. I hope anyone that comes across my blog will find the series worth reading.
Until tomorrow, tend those roots and keep the tree alive!