20 years ago, in 2005, I started my first online blog. It was called Welcome Distraction on a platform that is now very dated with journal in the name. I truly used it like a journal. I had good days and bad. But no matter what I was feeling on the day I would log on to the internet, I would write. I recently rediscovered that journal and reading through it wasn’t as cringe-inducing as I thought it would be. I was wild and unfiltered and it was fascinating to remember my fearlessness to just be me.

For 20 years it has sat, frozen, as so many other things have changed. Friends and family were referenced by name, exact travel plans and itineraries shared publicly, candid replies were made to the people in the comments- people that I knew in the real world. My best friend and roommate at the time was frequently mentioned, although she never even knew it existed, much less read it to my knowledge.

I shared it with her and we compared our memories. So many things were there that I had no recollection of, cross referenced with emails and my written journals. I have trouble making sense of it. I compartmentalized so much, that I can’t see what my own motivations were, other than experience, experience, experience. To get out in the world and feel it.

I was struck with the urge to do it again. I completely stopped having a regular, active online presence about 10 years ago for various reasons, the main one being work. But now, as I look back, I fear I may have swung too far on the side of caution. It’s fun to throw thoughts out into the void. I think this is my attempt to recreate that. So here goes.

To firsts.