Time to Bring It To A Close

I think it’s time to bring this autobiographical blog to a close.  There have been more than 300 entries, and it needs to stop somewhere. Of course, my life isn’t over, and there may well be new adventures around the corner.  I surely hope so.  I will continue to write about them in my Sunday Night Update. If you’re not on the list and you want to be on it, my e-mail address is

nlbales@allaboutfamilies.org

Send me a message and I’ll put you on it.  

In a perfect world, I suppose I would write the last blog on the last day of my life, but timing those two events to come out at the same time could prove to be a little tricky.  I don’t think I’ll have the luxury of saying, “I need to make just one more entry on the blog before I go.”

Since this is a blog, and it’s my blog I reserve the right to add new entries when the mood strikes me, but for right now I’m going stop the schedule of making regular entries.  If I post anything new, I’ll let you know through the update.

There are significant events that I haven’t written about yet –  our oldest son’s retirement from the army,  our second son’s re-entry into accounting, our daughter’s promotion to game store manager, the marriage of our grand daughter, the birth of our beautiful, great grand granddaughter, our grandson’s entry into the military, changes in the lives of our youngest son and his family.  All that has happened in the last three years, and they are still events in progress I’ll comment on them in the Sunday Night Update, and perhaps add some additional entries to the blog.   

I’m going to work on collecting all the posts in a PDF format.  I hope to be able to make a digital version of it available in the near future.  Thank you to all of those who have followed these posts and commented on them.  Some have marveled at how much I can remember of things that happen in the past.  I have a junk memory.  I can remember graphic details about things that happened half a century ago, but I assure you that I have to take a list with me if I go to the grocery store with more than three items to pick up.

I’ve enjoyed this trip down memory lane, but it hasn’t all been pure nostalgia.  I’ve been able to reflect on the way I think, and how I’ve gotten there.  I’ve been able to evaluate the direction of my life, recognize some of my mistakes, and hopefully, I’ve been encouraged to alter my course when I needed to do so.  Thank you for reading it.

One other thing.  You might not want to write as much as I have, but you need to get the significant stories of your life in some kind of written form – even if it is handwritten.  If you don’t there are a lot of great family stories that will die when you die, and that shortchanges the next generation.