Birthday Blog

"Things That Fill My Head" is one year old today!

I never imagined that I would ever take blogging seriously as I figured it was more for the "new generation" out there and not for an old fogey like myself. To be honest, among the bloggers that I know, I'd have to be the oldest with an age deficit of at least 10 years! So, having a blog was never on my mind.

In January 2006, my father passed away. I struggled to come to terms with his demise. Till today, I am still struggling. Words spoken by my father and images of him haunted my mind every day. I knew I'd never get over my father's death no matter how long I live but I needed a way to manage my thoughts, feelings and memories before it got the better of me.

I remembered my father used to spend weekends penning his thoughts and feelings in a notebook (the paper kind). He even had one titled "My Worries". I figured that by offloading his worries into the notebook, it lightened the load on his mind. My father was a man who managed his thoughts and feelings very well and this was probably one of his "tricks".

Ok, I'll put my thoughts into words. But where? Then, the idea of a blog came up. So, I reviewed a few blog hosting services out there and within an hour, decided on Blogger. All I wanted to do was to find a simple way to put my thoughts into words. After all, I was certain no one would come across, let alone read, my blog - especially in a community as huge as Blogger. I picked a user name, after multiple tries (pratically all variations of "Prem" I could think off were taken!), and started on my first entry - one dedicated to my beloved father. It felt like the most appropriate thing to write about.

With my eyes glazing over, I sat at my desk and wrote about the man I loved and respected the most in my life. As the words flowed, so did the tears. Images and stories long forgotten came flooding back. A few lines quickly became a few paragraphs and before I knew it, my first entry was done. Honestly, I felt good talking about my father openly - even though no one was listening - or so I thought.

The next day, I checked my blog and found "1 Comment". Was someone reading? I quickly clicked on it and found a spammer (the comment is still there - just for laughs)! Oh well, better 1 meaningless "comment" than nothing at all. Next, I went on to write about my two doggies. I was not expecting anymore visitors, spammers or otherwise, but I checked back to find "royalty" had graced my blog with her visit. Princess, who used to go by the name Sparkling Princess, came by and posted a lovely comment about my dogs as well as to offer her condolences for my loss. I thought it was very sweet and thanks to her, I found my way to other honest and beautifully written blogs. Since then, unseen bloggers have become invaluable friends as we share our lives with each other. Even my wife talks about you guys as if we've been good friends for ages.

So, on this 1st birthday of "Things That Fill My Head", I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Princess, Zizo, Dandoon, Vanessa, Ghasheema and last but not least Eshda3wa for making me feel very welcome in the blogging world and allowing me to share my life with you as you have shared yours with me. I am also very appreciative of my lovely wife who is very supportive of her husband's blog and my little boy for giving me something to write about.

Its been a fantastic year blogging! I look forward to more of them.

Cheers!!