When you are a child, you babble away and no one listens. You talk in the kitchen and ask a thousand questions about your new world when it’s only as tall as the height of the lowest cabinet door.
When you are an adult, you have a need to do the same and there are even fewer people who listen. I mean really listen.
As we grow older, some of our questions turn to answers. And we have new questions to ask. The old river of common friends separate into distributaries that hardly ever meet while the water swells threatening to burst the whole valley. There is so much of it.
It was on such a night last year on the 14th of May, 2013 that I sat at the computer exploring WordPress.
It is the irony of life that the moment you think that you are on the verge of creating something new which you think is going to be special, something unique to be cherished, that you come face to face with the banality of it all.
Perhaps that is the real story of creation.
Bottledworder’s birth was not easy.
I wanted to choose Phoenix, the magical bird, as my blog’s name.
No. Already taken. Not by the bird but by the city.
Phoenixrisingfromtheashes?
Already risen.
So had Phoenixrisingfromtheashes1, Phoenixrisingfromtheashes001, Phoenixrisingfromtheashes_2012.
Apparently, magic was everywhere.
My magic was nothing special. Already.
I don’t know where the word bottledworder came into my head then but it did.
Perhaps my creative desire ran to take shelter in something that sounded like the opposite of magical. It wanted refuge in that which was the ordinary, the everyday, the literal, the banal.
No one read my first post.
As soon as I set this post out into the world, I knew I had created something.
This creative impulse felt different.
It was the twin of the much coveted and forceful impulse that strives to be pathbreaking, to be new, to be unique, to be famous, to be powerful. This more homely creative experience was the kind that sustains, that nourishes, that is simply about the exuberance of being alive.
My blog tells me that it’s enough to live, to exist, to experience, to swim with others, to talk, to listen, to take pleasure in the broad flow of life.
That’s what this blog feels like now after a year. Something alive to come home to every few days.
A friend.
Happy Birthday Bottledworder!
The first of many!
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Happy birthday, Bottledworder! I’m glad those other names were already taken; first time I came across this blog, the first thing that struck me was the brilliant name. Hope to see many more years of bottledwording.
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Congrats on a year and look forward to a 2nd year of awesome posts 😉
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Happy birthday! x
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http://2bcreativeblog.com/2013/05/20/sunshine-award/
I nominate you! I enjoy your posts.
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Congrats!!
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Wonderful, BW. You have a gift. Thanks for sharing.
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Congratulations on your blog anniversary! I love this quote from your post: “My blog tells me that it’s enough to live, to exist, to experience, to swim with others, to talk, to listen, to take pleasure in the broad flow of life.” Lovely!
Kate
http://katestull.wordpress.com
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Congrats on your blogiversary. Here’s to many more years to come. 😀
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Happy blogaversary! Here’s to the next one, five and ten! Your first post amused me, thanks for resharing it!
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Congrats on your very first blogoversary! Keep up the good work.
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Happy Birthday! Well done, keep it up.
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LOve your words about writing a blog.. exactly how it feels, so satisfying, creative, and nourishing
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Happy Birthday Bottledworder! And I agree, blogging does feel like coming home to a friend. 🙂
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Outstanding! Happy birthday! I love your voice, I love your style, and I love being a part of your community. 🙂
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Happy Birthday (and look how many people read your posts now!) 🙂
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Happy Birthday! I am glad you stuck with it, I enjoy your stories. I do agree that there is that “feeling” whenever I hit the publish button. Congrats!
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really, when i discovered you, I assumed you were a consumate writer and blogger- VERY professional, superb writer
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Happy Birthday! Here’s to many more.
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I enjoyed reading every sentence of this post. Happy Birthday Bottleworder!! 😀
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Happy happy birthday!!!
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swimming in the ocean, not the lake. 🙂 happy blog day
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Could relate to your experience and feelings regarding starting and naming your blog! Congratulations as you celebrate your first “Blog Birthday”. I gave birth to mine this week. Like you, all my “unique” and creative blog names were already taken…was discouraging. So glad you did not give up and abandon your desire to blog at that point. Happy Birthday Bottledworder!
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Bottledworder shares a birthday with my mother and my husband. How wonderful! Happy Birthday, Bottledworder! I always enjoy the things posted here.
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Happy Birthday! Glad you took the leap! I enjoy your musings.
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Happy birthday!
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Happy Birthday Bottledworder!
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[ Smiles ] Happy Blog Anniversary!
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Happy Yappy
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Congratulations on a successful year of writing and sharing! I enjoy your work a great deal. carry on!
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That’s great – you have come a long way! I had no idea you were such a newbie when I stumbled across you last year. You seem so “growed up.”
Happy anniversary! Keep opining and exploring.
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Happy Birthday!
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Happy Birthday!
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Happy Birthday to you! 🙂
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A very happy bday with a journey so well rewarded in its way, its amazing just one year..
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Congrats on the one year milestone. Bottledworder is a healthy, bouncing blog! (Well, maybe not bouncing, but definitely healthy :))
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Happy birthday, and hopefully many, many more.
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BottleWorder,
To quote a fellow blogger: Happy Birthday Bottledworder!
Le Clown
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Thou art a witty fool Le Clown. Better a witty fool than a foolish wit.
Thank you. BW is all smiles this week.
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