I really like Blogger. I like the whole process of writing and publishing articles and posting notes and stories about the children. I don’t have as much time as I would like to do this, and lately with the death process, I’ve been away from it a lot because other things needed my attention.

Blogger makes the whole process easy. It’s very simple to use. I am thinking of starting a family blog that would be closed to non-family members. That’s doable. There would be a password. I think a family blog would be a terrific idea for my family because it would be a much easier way to keep in touch than letter writing or email. One shot hits the whole group. I have fifty first cousins who are married with kids, and keeping in touch with 25% of them would be a nightmare. I wish I had done this before my mother died. It would have been fun for her to be able to look at pictures of her relatives rather than trying to remember.

To start a blog you go to Blogger.com and the Dashboard just pops up and you start by naming your blog and going through the directions. It’s easy, changeable and you can delete it or part of it any time you want.

If you carry the thought through, hundreds of people could belong to your blog. Safety? You never use a last name or an address and never name a child. I don’t have those safety fears other people do because I think it’s a lot of hype, but for those who are frightened, it could still work. And with a password, only family members who are invited could view the blog.

Why do this? Because it increases family fun and closeness in a world where we lose contact so easily.

Lately, I’ve been using Classmates a lot to track down members of my old class some 37 years ago, and I’ve had a ball doing it. I’ve revived several friendships already, and it’s just fun learning about other people’s lives – I mean what happened to them over the years? I suppose I care about people and want to share, so this kind of thing is important to me.

I find the blog site for school very useful for getting messages across to parents and grandparents who can view pictures of grandkids at play. It’s great for the people who take the time to look at it. My school blog has gone through many changes over the years and right now, aside from not enough posted, I think there is the right mix.

So today I’ll start the process. If anyone wants to know about this, ask me at school or send a question here.

Judy