9 Years of Blogging: Some Things Don’t Change

And so, last weekend we piled into the car on a road trip to get Isla’s uniform and school supplies. The kid starts Primary 1 next week, and she is the only one ready for this.

There we are in the car with the heat on because we already had summer. For three days in London.

I’ve been looking for ways to stall this growing up thing for a while now. Which is why we left the shopping trip to almost the last weekend possible.

There was even a country style traffic jam before we got to the main road. On Saturday, I was thankful for slow sheep. And rainbows.

Right after I took that photo, in related country life news, I lost phone reception.

I found some bars while we stocked up on road trip snacks, and tried not to eat them in the car park of the shop.

It was at that time I got an alert from WordPress congratulating me on nine years of blogging.

Well, no. Thank you. I insist.

Some of you may remember my blogging Q + A from last year.

Or when I went self-hosted with Lyrical Host around year seven.

I was thinking of my ninth anniversary post all the way down the road, amongst more sheep and my family. My kid who only ever sleeps in the car.

Some things don’t change.

Our first stop in town was the toy store, which reminded me of another memorable shopping trip, and a haircut for Isla. But this haircut over here was still the best she ever got.

The usual accessible hotel room we always book was taken so we went to the first place we could find that had another accessible family room.

It’s usually a choice between being in the same room as my kid or being able to fit my wheelchair in the bathroom.

Rarely both at once, because like I’ve said before, disabled people don’t have kids.

Except when we do.

Mine even had a melt-down at the hotel restaurant claw machine. OK, we all had a melt-down. Isla wanted a toy, so her Dad got her one. Isla didn’t want that one, she wanted to claw one all by herself.

But claw machines are a CON, Neil said. And A WASTE OF MONEY, Neil said.

But Isla wanted to TRY.

And I was sitting there like, let’s everyone use their INSIDE VOICES, PLEASE.

Really, I just wanted to eat. And maybe celebrate my nine years of blogging and my kid starting school full time. Even though I’m not thinking about it, because every time I do, I cry.

I cried in the aisles getting her uniform. I cried when she said she wants gray because ‘gray is more stylish,’ she said. I cried when I noticed her patent leather shoes light up.

Some things don’t change.

We drove back up the road, and my cheese-phobe husband got his regular seafood pizza.

Instead of coming home and writing up my blogging anniversary post, we came home and watched FRIENDS. We recently finished the series for the 300th time, and turned right around and started from the beginning.

More on the things I geek out on in an upcoming post, from a reader request. Geek post is now up. Get nostalgic about stuff with me.

Speaking of reader requests, I asked the groovy people in my FB group if you guys had any questions I should cover in my nine years of blogging post. Yes, that’s this one.

These are the questions I got:

How has interacting with different bloggers changed over the years? Do you find folks comment less than they used to?

Well, interacting with other bloggers is still in my top two favourite things about blogging.

I love getting comments and emails from you guys, readers and friends. However, THE BEST comments to me, are ones that are longer than ‘nice post’, ones that continue the conversation, not repeat what I said. Because I know what I said.

I really want to know what you think.

My comment section is not about me. And your comment section isn’t about you.

And I LOVE when a comment I get from you inspires me to write another post.

I found this article on what makes a good comment these days.

I like to drink coffee while answering people and pretending you’re right next to me. Because it feels like you are.

I was among friends nine years ago, and I still feel the same.

Which brings me to this question:

Are your reasons for blogging and aims for Gin & Lemonade the same as when you started?

Well, yes and no.

When I started out, I couldn’t find people like me: a disabled, loved up, third-culture kid who grew up.

My aim was to highlight and be sarcastic about inaccessibility to prove that life in general should be more accessible.

I kind of grew up with this blog.

And I’m thankful for the chance to think aloud on here. I’m not quitting anytime soon, but my aim is to use this forgiving platform to get my writing out to more people.

My favourite posts to write are the ones where I talk about disability. I find myself talking less to able-bodied people, and wanting to connect more with other disabled people.

I know that my writing can’t please everyone, and that’s OK. Because I’m not really talking to everyone, anymore.

But I’m still the sarcastic writer who blogs while drinking a bunch of coffee (even though I tried to give it up once, that didn’t work.)

Some things don’t change.

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