Something about the bright sunlight and the white building, the slanted shadows and the lush green grass, and finally the caged meters and pipes caught my eye as I was walking down the hill to Starbucks a few days ago. Pretty ordinary and normally not worth a second look. But all those factors taken together suddenly came together as a “subject” worthy of the pause needed to pull out my phone and snap a photograph.

I’ve been away from blogging for weeks. Life happens to us all, right? Although part of me feels an obligation to reenter the blog stream with a big, significant post, the more practical side of me knows I should just slip back quietly and resume posting random stuff. So here I am.

In their early days, like 18-20 years ago, blogs were called “weblogs” or “online diaries,” descriptions that imply brief entries like daily “posts” more than substantial essays or articles.

For whatever reason, though, I always feel compelled to write more in a blog post than what’s appropriate for a “log” or “diary” entry. It’s very satisfying to write a longer piece, and over time it’s those longer posts that continue to draw visitors to my blog years after they were written. All the diary-type posts, featuring throwaway photos and little observations on my daily life, kind of disappear into the ether.

Yet those small moments of insight add up to something—I’m not sure what, but something—and therefore of value.

Which reminds me of this concluding remark from Nicholas Hitchon in the 56 Up movie trailer (which you can watch at the end of this post to gain a quick overview/summary of the phenomenal “Up” documentary series)

It’s how a person, any person, it’s how they change. It’s not an absolute, accurate picture of me. But it’s a picture of somebody.

Isn’t that what a blog amounts to, as well?