Monday, January 11, 2016

New Year, New Blog Posts!

I love the start of a year, the beginning of a fresh lap in the marathon of life. This new year, I am thinking a lot about this blog that brought you and me together 6.5 years ago. I needed a quiet place to collect and reflect on the first stories my older adult buds told me, and knowing that all of you are gathered here with me turned this blog from something abstract into a real and happy place for me. The blog's siblings (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and our Story Letter newsletter) became extensions of my happy place. For all of that, thank you.

And now, 6.5 years and thousands of stories (so far!) later, I feel like it's time to make two leaps.

One. I feel that it's time to present our stories to you in a more organized, permanent and searchable way. For this reason, my team and I will work harder than ever to raise funds for a unified site that will allow all our program sites and you (yay, you!) to submit stories told by the older adults in your lives. Feel free to email me to get the inside scoop or get involved before we make the full public announcement.

Two. I feel that I need to present my reflections in a more compact way and include practical tips so that they can be more useful for you – I want to do what I can to help you start conversations and enrich relationships with the older adults in your daily life. So I am going to try something new on this blog this year. Every post will give you a tip you can use today, and every tip will be inspired by a Best Day moment or story that has stuck with me.

How does this sound to you? Let me know what you think! Your listening and support has kept me going and motivated to share for 6.5 years and I hope to continue for 65 more. Ha, yes, I am maybe getting too excited to become an older adult myself... I know ;) Inspiring stories can do that to you.

Love, Benita
benita@bestdayofmylifesofar.org