How Blogging found me...

Over at We are THAT family...one of my favorite reads. The discussion of 'How did you start blogging' came up...and so I wanted to tell you HOW I got here.

My father, who has passed away, was adopted with his twin sister at the age of 2 in 1947. A few years before he died, I became obsessed with finding out who his real birth parents were. My whole life he always maintained the same mantra of 'why would I want to know anybody who gave me up?'...but it was different for me. I am a history buff and I had a lifelong yearning to know my true race and family history on BOTH sides of my family. Including medical history. Something you don't realize how important that is- until say...my dad who was struggling with a cough for months before his cancer was diagnosed, who could only answer the 'is there any family history of cancer in your family?' with a "I don't KNOW. I am adopted". Perhaps if he had known....he would have been diagnosed earlier....and be here today to read my blog and laugh with me. Who knows.*

Anyways...one night while doing my numerous searches for anything relating to his adoption and birth date (3/01/1945) I clicked on a site called 'OCthen'...which as it turned out was a site with memories about Orange County from various authors...one of which was Suzanne Broughton of Emphasis Mine. I linked over to her blog and was...enthralled. I had never visited a personal blog before. Photos of her lunch? Comedy tales about her family? Links to other blogs?....I was in heaven! And so there I stayed. I commented and commented. I followed her over to the OC Register. I commented and commented. Sometimes my comments were longer than the post. Once Suzanne showcased my photography work on her blog. WOW. And eventually Suzanne e-mailed me and said 'You really should have your own blog'....The next night while up at 4 in the morning....I went to Blogger and signed up. And by 7am I had my own blog with my custom header and all.

Here is my first post. And look who was my first commenter. Yup, Suz of course! Blogging was one of the best decisions I have ever made. These are my PEOPLE. My TRIBE. Had this been going on right under my nose? People were being funny and witty and clever all around me? Were there this many people out there with the same sense of humor as me? I thought I was all alone! And now I found my home. My happy place. A place to be heard. To be validated. A place to be accepted and loved. And it gives me such peace of mind that if my glamorous world falls apart around me- I know I will always have a place to call home. A place where anything is possible. Thank you Internet. Thanks for giving me a place to be.....well, ME.

*still searching for my dad's birth family. I won't give up.