One year ago tomorrow, I blogged my first sentence of Annie’s Eyes. “Well, here we are at a crossroad. Technology has finally matched a vehicle for my thoughts and heartbeats.” Journaling was never my thing. I never kept a diary. I never wrote anything until I was almost forty years old, except for the school assignments. I was a business major in college so I didn’t have to read very much. It seems pathetic now, but I never learned to appreciate this facet of my life until I was much older. I was a late bloomer, in that regard. Somewhere around 35, I started reading everything nonfiction I could get my hands on and writing some. By forty, I had published a book and swore I would never do that again. (Just a little hint: If you want to make God laugh, just say the word never and see what He does next.) Then, last year, I wrote my first post in blogger world. I simply wrote out of the overflow of a blessed heart.

As with most of my life, I somewhat fell into writing this blog when I saw another and felt I didn’t want to be anonymous anymore with comments. So, I signed up on Blogger, and months later, decided to try my hand at writing a few words informally. A few words turned into some rather lengthy posts, I know. If I had it to do over, I’d write more succinctly, but you get the raw, unedited version most days. I knew if I was going to write, it had to be what mattered to me. I didn’t know how it might reach others, but it needed to be real, a piece of my heart. I didn’t mean for it to be as serious as it has been, as most of my “real” life is much funnier and lighter, and well, surface-level living. I was called “shallow” as recently as this week. Maybe in jest, probably not, but with a good laugh that followed. It’s strange though when you get to writing about your heart how tender some places are, how sweet the words flow, and perhaps ultimately how you might connect with another soul to touch a chord with someone else on the journey of life.

I never thought much about what blogging might bring to me, but I was most surprised. What I didn’t anticipate was the depth of friendships that could evolve from simply jotting down a few words in the course of a year. After 340 posts, what stands out most is you. Your responses and emails have been so genuine and endearing to me. Somehow, getting to know a few of your hearts before I know your face is what I imagine heaven will be like. We’ll know the depth of each other before we know the surface. I never thought I’d find a little piece of heaven right here in the most unexpected medium. I feel I know a few of you more than I do my neighbor across the street. I can say with much satisfaction and gratitude that I have been given an amazing gift in you, as you stumbled across this blog, and something led you to extend your own heart back to me. You were the one who said I know that joy or pain and reached back in a comment. I didn’t write for that purpose but it has been the most wonderful present to me to see your hearts and share moments of this year with you of your own lives and of my own.

Tomorrow, I celebrate a year of blogging my heart or just my day. I wonder how much more I will have to write or if it is time to say enough. God will guide. Though nothing is new under the sun, each moment is a new miracle. I have a hard time believing there won’t be something new seen in a fresh light as I pray to see the wonders in each day through His Eyes. So until He says enough, I will continue to write as we journey along the way.

Bless God for each day. It is a gift.

annie’s eyes trivia

As I read through some of the old posts, I realized I have a few favorite words. Thought you might get a kick out of some of these factoids:

Amazing – 129 times

Just -431
So,- (my favorite transition) 391
I know – 134
Dear – 87
Precious – 68
Sweet – 57
A lot – 47

Welcome to the South where words go a long way just in a simple phrase. So, I know I tend to use a lot of the same words like precious and dear an awful lot just to express my heart for you sweet things. Thanks for joining me. You have been so amazing, you dear and precious women. So, y’all take care and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Along the way,

annie