It was an idea that wouldn't go away

I often carry a notebook with me on trips. I keep one by my bed too. It's an old habit, born of regular bouts of insomnia. Sometimes when I lay down at night my mind turns to the next day, or regrets about the day past, and the brain just won't shut off. When this persists for too many days I have found that sometimes it helps to write in one of those notebooks about whatever is running through my head. Sometimes putting those seemingly random thoughts on paper reveals the order to them. I get the jumble out of my brain and spill it on a page and that act allows my mind to rest and my body to sleep. These days I rely more on a computer for my periodic writing jags, but sometimes things just flow better like ink through onto paper, when I put the keyboard away and take pen in hand.

It was in one of those notebooks that I wrote the following on Aug. 14, 2006:

I have an idea for a new blog. A family blog site for the whole Felix/West clan. The original idea was for a father/daughter blog for Suzanna and I, but I don't know if she'd go for it. I don't know if anyone else in the crew will either.

Question is: Will I pitch the idea to them, or let it die?

And for more than a year, the idea sat dormant. I had let it die, or so I though. It was resurrected again, almost a year later, in August 2007, after Suzanna and I teamed up on a little project for my newspaper and the newspaper's blog. It was fun collaborating with Suzanna on material for the blog and a story for the newspaper. I was even inspired to write a blog post on another site about the experience.

That caused the family blog idea to flare up again, but I didn't do anything with it. Then, over Thanksgiving weekend, when I saw Suzanna, Monica and Elizabeth, I worked up the courage to share the idea with them: What if we had a family blog that we could all contribute to and share things with each other (and maybe even the wider world) from our separate locations around Oregon (or wherever or lives take us)? Were then interested? Did they think the rest of the family would be interested?

To my surprise, the idea was greeted with some enthusiasm. So now, I'm ready to pitch the idea to the wider family and see who might be interested in not only the idea, but in contributing post, pictures, video -- whatever -- from time to time.

There is no magic to this formula. It's just a place where we can share ideas, memories, whatever. It's the holiday season, so maybe we might not get this thing going in earnest during this busy season. But I hope this post serves as a start to a fun family collaboration.