Changes to my blog. Changes to me. Changes.

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything in either of my blogs, and after some consideration, I’ve decided to combine the two blogs into one.

The two blogs began as separate entities, but now it seems natural to merge them.  The intensity of daily life in my world of caregiving drove “thedaddiary13,” and “cwareintheworld” seemed appropriate for travel.  No longer, though.  My dad’s death in April 2012 ended that caregiving world, and though I certainly think about people and events and issues connected with it, it no longer remains separate from but rather part of my “other” life.

Similarly, travel is now just part of my life.  That travel might well be to another country and culture, but it might also be here, in the U.S., in my own hometown(s).

Writing was one of my lifelines while I was caring for Dad in the last months of his life and in the months afterward, but before too long I realized I was bone-weary and that my desire to write was quite simply gone.  In December 2012 and January 2013, I thought I’d broken through that, but clearly hadn’t.

However, this summer I participated in a 3-week poetry workshop, in Athens, Greece, and immersed myself in re-reading The Odyssey (2 books a day) and in writing poems (daily).  Somewhere along the way, my love of writing was re-kindled.  Maybe it was just on hiatus.  I will write about the workshop at length in another blog, but it served to remind me of so many things about poetry and community and writing.

Anyway, with many thanks to my friend Alicia Stallings and her workshop, I find myself energized about so much again, and writing is once more part of my life.

While I was pondering just what to do with two blogs, I was reading a relative’s blog, and he mentioned that his blog had changed.  That sparked my own realization that just because the two blogs had begun separately, they didn’t need to stay separate.  Nor did my blog have to remain static — I certainly haven’t, and my life hasn’t.

Consequently, I will now keep the “cwareintheworld” title, blend the two sites, and archive earlier posts in the one site.

Also, I have decided to write on travel at least once per week (Fridays) and on Dad-related topics once per week (Mondays).  The other posts will be on whatever topics that occur to me.

Finally, I realized that I have never posted the final days of my trip to Jordan in 2012!  I will do that, late though these are.  Apologies.

Welcome, then, to my newly conceived “cwareintheworld” blog.  Welcome to my world.