Not much to report, other than the obvious change in my theme. I had been on the lookout for something with a yellow background and liked this one, which is called RetroFlowers. I like the overall balance of the elements and find the text to be much more readable than my last theme. I also liked the header image–it’s suggestive enough to call to mind the wallpaper in Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s novella.

I think the presentation change mirrors a change in my attitude toward this blog. I began it on an impulse–it was a way to objectify my thoughts, to leave my own little breadcrumb trail. I wasn’t writing for anyone but myself. But the writing inspired me to explore this particular corner of the blogosphere, and, as is evident from my growing blog roll, I’ve met some remarkable people on the way. I feel as if I’ve found a community, and this has been a wonderful surprise for me.

As a result, I now have some friends who are making my caregiving experience a lot less lonely. Not only do they know–in their individual ways–what it’s like to become your parent’s parent, but they also challenge me to look at this experience from different vantage points. And I’ve discovered that they are giving me the strength to cope, to face what I can’t change, to see the humor and the meaning in it.

So I take back what I said in my first sentence–I do have something to report. I am reporting that what began as my little voice crying in the wilderness has become one side in an ongoing conversation. And it’s the conversation that is keeping me afloat.