Since 2009, I have been writing bits and snatches about life in the Taylor household on this blog I dubbed Taylor Babble. It has been a wonderful creative outlet for me, since it combines two of the things I love most in the world: writing and my family. It's also a forgiving medium. It has allowed me to create at a level that matched my enthusiasm and my availability to participate.
It has been a great depository for information that my (increasingly faulty) memory struggles to recall and yet wants to retain forever. I've used the search function often to "remember" fun things like just when we went to {fill in the blank} or more mundane things like when family members had procedures done that I (or they) have been asked to chronicle on some medical history. It's reminded me of funny things we've done or said. It's given me a quick place to go to reminisce about days gone by just for the fondness of those memories—or, in some cases, the relief at their having passed.
As our children are (as Braylee points out often) grown-ups now, it has gotten trickier to chronicle our doings. There's a real part of me that wishes to give everyone equal coverage, and that's not possible, let alone practical. I worry about missing things or giving the appearance that I love some people more because I mention them more, and that is just not the case. And so, at some level, this project I love also feels like a failure I am scrambling to repair.
I'm pretty well acquainted with what Tim, Braylee, and I are doing here at 1884 S. Prairie Pond Rd in Saratoga Springs—and yet routinely I write much about small things and miss big things completely, even when writing about things here on my home turf.
And then there are four other households with which I am far less familiar, though they all hold a place in my heart.
Aleksi is living in her largely secret world in West Jordan. We know very little of what she does from day to day.
Madison and Matt are in the Fremont neighborhood in Seattle. They keep busy with their own affairs and appreciate their privacy and distance from the fray.
Reagan and Ian are in Shelby Township, Michigan. They keep busy with work and travel and are especially excited about a little one who will be joining the Jeppsen family in September.
Bonden is busy with school and work in St. George. He is close to completing his associates degree at Utah Tech and is trying to figure out his next steps.
There are parents, siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends whom we hold dear. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives. I feel lucky to know them, and some part of me wishes I could capture and hold onto their experiences and their wisdom through writing.
Their stories are not finished, but their stories are not mine to tell. And so it is with a combination of sadness and relief that, on this otherwise unremarkable Sunday, I bid this Taylor Babble of mine a fond farewell. I am moving on. I hope I shall discover another hobby that serves me as well as this one has.
