Aloha oe

I've blogged here regularly since 2005. I'm pretty sure that's about 11 years, but I did that math in my head, so it's pretty iffy. If I'm right, that's the longest hobby I've ever had. Heck, I haven't even worked for an employer that long. So there's definitely a fondness for this blog, and it makes me very sad to end it.

But I think, it's time.

I almost deleted it a few times (largely because I wanted to live a more authentic/private life), and once made the very wise decision to purge nearly 90% of my posts to better protect the privacy of my child (& and his cousins). But I've obviously neglected that intention and responsibility, and think the best way to ensure Ryan's safety would be to stop blogging. I don't have many readers, but it only takes one sick person to ruin your lives. (If you've been watching ABC's The Family, which I marathon-watched in sheer horror this AM...you will understand why this has all come about so suddenly). So while it is partly irrational to suddenly walk away from something I've loved for 11 years, I'm also heeding my protective mama bear instincts...and those trump everything.

If you're a family or friend, I'll still be on Facebook. Although honestly, I'm not sure how much longer that'll last. It feels like 90% of posts are memes, viral videos, ads, political mumbo jumbo, recipes I'll never make (because they require ingredients and spices I've never heard of), fake news stories that are really links to ads ("He did THIS to his ex girlfriend's pregnant, one-eyed labradoodle!"), bizarre quizzes ("What kind of hamburger are you during the month of June?"), one-upmanship in the form of emotional wedding proposals, or overly dramatic food scaring tactics ("If you've been eating this, you may as well be drinking bleach mixed with duck feces!" Or worse yet, "Don't feed your child these 472,943 foods unless you hate them and want them to be brain damaged for life". Needless to say, Facebook is much less about the lives of people I care about, and much more about shameless self promotion.

I'm probably not disappearing forever. There is the possibility of just keeping it as a travel journal. I'd kind of like to do that, as I love nothing more than traveling and then writing about it. But it seems a bit, well...pretentious. I could also just post about non-Ryan related things (but I've clearly struggled with that in the past and failed miserably).

Though I'm unsure what comes next, I do want to say thank you to Blogger for the forum, and to the many kind souls who have told me over the years how much they enjoy keeping up with us (& the Kardashians). I've enjoyed every minute that I've spent here, and I'm sure I'll be excited about what comes next. Until then...aloha and mahalo.

-J