I’ve been gone from this space for a very long time.

(Three years, in fact.)

Right around that time, I read a blog that talked about the loneliness of parenting preteens/teens, in part because the constant conversation and public sharing dwindles and stops as your children grow and earn the right to choose what they show the world about themselves. That concept – a young adult’s right to own his or her public identity without we parents shaping it alongside them – hit me very strongly. And because so much of what I learn daily is somehow intertwined with teenagers (either mine, or members of Ryan’s teams, or even my students during my sweet interlude teaching high school French), I realized how difficult it would be to write and yet be mindful of that. So, I stopped. Aside from the occasional, lengthier-than-usual social media post, my words have been locked up tightly for right around three years.

A lot has happened in that three years, in our little world. Final goodbyes to middle school. Job changes and detours (including the aforementioned interlude teaching French!). History-making accomplishments by both of the Kjos men for Gateway. Cancer. Unexpected loss of a parent (for us and for others we love). Friendship beginnings and endings. Another move. School changes. Church changes. More dog adventures than we bargained for (I’m looking at you, Lowry). Dating. Driving. New sports. New hobbies.  Poor decisions. Amazingly wise decisions. Parenting struggles. Teenager survival struggles. CRAZY amount of change in society. Growth and setbacks in our family relationship and identity. And most of it played pretty close to the vest.  I’m sure you can all relate (except perhaps to Lowry, because there is only one Lowry – he’s a future blog post, believe me).

I find that God usually speaks to me through other people, in triplicate. Seriously. Almost without fail, three different, unrelated people will say the same thing to me in a fairly short period of time. Perhaps God knows I’m not always the savviest about connecting the dots, so He makes them impossible to miss. Fortunately, while I still wouldn’t call myself savvy, I’ve definitely matured in my ability to see and respond to what He is saying to me through others. So, when I was “encouraged” to start writing again on three separate occasions, by three people in my world who do not know each other, I decided to listen. Is this the best time in my life to try for consistent writing? Nope. Do I still battle that awkward feeling about blogging (because it does feel so narcissistic and “look at me” although I do NOT feel that way about bloggers I read!)?  Yep. But even just this summer, I have learned – and learned well – that when God tells me to do it, however He chooses to tell me, I better do it, because that’s when life really happens. (And your last argument falls when your teenage son says, “Go ahead and write about me, I don’t care!”)

So, hello again. And please be aware in advance that I wholeheartedly agree with William Faulkner when he said, “Get it down. Take chances. It may be bad, but it’s the only way you can do anything really good.”