Well, hello there everybody. It's dark and early here this morning. My usual. Up before everyone. The tree is lit. The space for "22" is filled on Cal's Advent Calendar. And every bedroom in the house is full. Even rooms that aren't used as bedrooms are full as Cal is sleeping on the floor of the office. I had to tiptoe past him on my way downstairs. It's going to rain all day. My favorite.

There's a lot to be grateful for. Many of us have talked about how when we started blogging, it felt like we were the only kid at the lunch table. Alone in the internet wilderness. I was no different. I've been blogging for a long time. Perhaps too long. For many of those early years, this space was no more than a journal. Me rambling to myself about the minutiae of our life. Let's face it, it's still a lot like that, only now some of you are gracious enough to listen in! But from the beginning, SPL was a labor of love. I was never concerned with SEO or generating content or encouraging sponsors. I was just telling our story. When one-by-one, you started stopping by and chiming in, I was talking to you. That was lovely. It still is.

Like all of us, I recalibrate from time to time and wonder what the hell I actually am doing here anyway. As Cal has grown, the stories about him have changed. I'm no longer quick to carry my camera to every single event we're invited to and rush back here to share it with my corner of the internet. My life got lived, and parts of it got shared here. Is that all blog-worthy? I don't know. And still, the discipline of showing up at the screen to be here a few times a week is good for my writing chops, and knowing I'm publishing photos here is certainly good for my photography chops.

More than anything, this past week has shown me why I still plug away here, and that's all of you. Honestly, I can't begin to tell you how buoyed I felt by the support you all have given me, first about my foray into film photography and then again about our little car accident. Knowing that I can come here and lay it all out, from the intimate to the mundane, and that you read and comment and cheer me on? It's hard to find the words for how that makes me feel.

You fill me up. :)