My first thought on hearing the word....

The first time I heard the word "blog", I wasn't really paying attention because I was rather absorbed in a good book. It was the usual evening setting; everyone in the living room either playing or watching TV (boys), reading (me) or sitting in the recliner with his lap top (Scott). I was just conscience enough to catch the word but not the context. " Hmmm," I thought, "he must be reviewing some of his genealogy material if he's finding Blogs...." When he did get my attention enough to tell me that web logs=blogs, I realized that they had nothing to do with my late great-aunt, Florence Fayas-Blog, yet I cannot separate the two.

Computers are an uncomfortable convenience and if I did not have a techie husband I would probably not have one (much less three) in the house. There are some games that I would miss
and I do occasionally have a use for Office Writer. I am basically content to write with pen and paper, make notes on a wall calendar instead of a pocket PC and generally prefer to pick up the phone rather than send an e-mail. These things are not totally outside of my comfort zone but are definitely fringe stuff. The prospect of having a blog set up for me was was enticing but would have been beyond the fringes of comfort except for Aunt Florence.

One of at least nine children born to a rural farm family in the U.P., following the example of the rest of the family would have meant marrying a local boy and tending house, raising a family and helping on the farm. This was normal, expected and comfortable, at least in terms of "known" vs. "unknown". This is NOT what Florence chose. I don't know any of the details on how they met or when they were married, but Flo married Frank Blog, a business man and a big city one at that. She lived in Chicago, worked outside the home, had no children and wore fashionable clothing on days other than Sunday. (Her husband was a clothing buyer for for a large department store chain.) I suspect that little in her upbringing prepared her for a life having so many "stretching" experiences. She rose to every challenge and learned to love the busy city and found satisfaction in her restaurant job. She handled a divorce, changing her name back to Fayas from Blog and resettlement back into rural life and I don't ever recall her complaining. (Some of my aunts excelled at that pastime.)

This is the way I see it; I didn't grow up in a technical vacuum and using a computer should not send chills down my spine. The thought of learning to use a pocket PC should not make me break out in a cold sweat and putting my thoughts and ideas out on a blog should not inspire nausea. I have a thousand advantages that Aunt Florence never had. I can see, research and experience things from the safety of my home that she would have had to travel the world to do and see. My challenges seem very modest compared to hers so this very first "real" blog posting, and, in a way, all those to come, are dedicated to her.