Kim Wilbanks

Something Big Happened This Week

Well, I have another milestone to celebrate. This seems to be a running theme on my blog these past few months. This one is happy, though. But it snuck up on me! This week marked the tenth anniversary of my blog, Feathering My Empty Nest. Ten years! That’s a decade!

On August 14, 2014, I sat at my desk overlooking the turquoise Gulf of Mexico and typed out a little over 600 words to kick off my writing career. (I spent more time agonizing over which design to use, which colors to go with, and setting it all up than I did in writing the post). This is how it all started ten years ago this week:

After much contemplation and talk, I’m finally doing it! I’m adding my voice to the world of blogs. “Why”? you may ask. Well, it has been over a year since my 2 children have “left the nest” and that reality has set in. Now, what do I do? You can click here if you want to go back and read the entire post.

Ten Years Of Life

A lot has happened in the last ten years. When I first started writing, my kids were recent college graduates. They have been on their own for a while, so I’m used to living in an empty nest, even though I don’t always like it.

Here’s a look at some things that have happened in the past decade.

• Two weddings—so now I have a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law
• Four mission trips—Uganda, South Africa, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic twice
• Five trips overseas—Including Israel, Iceland, and the UK three times
• Two cruises
• Many trips around the US with friends—NYC, California, Washington DC, Williamsburg and more
• Trips to Nashville, Birmingham, and the mountains to visit family
• Many weekends at the beach, one of my favorite places for inspiration
• One surgery
• One pandemic
• Losing both of my parents in back-to-back summers
• Adding two grandsons to our family
• Saying goodbye to our corgi, Higgins but adding Boone, a goofy labradoodle
• Selling a long-time cabin in North Carolina and getting a new place in civilization
• Nine writer’s conferences or retreats
• Stories published in four books
• One book in the process of being published

Whew! That’s a lot. I didn’t realize I had been so busy. Of course, if you have read my blog before, you may already know what I’ve been up to because I write about life and what I am learning from it.

Looking Back And Going Forward

In the past ten years, I have written 383 blog posts using 212,101 words. My most prolific year was 2019. We all know what happened after that. I am astounded that almost 40,000 people have read my blogs. Wow! I am so grateful and humbled. I hope my musings have been enjoyable or helpful to you. Most of all, I hope my faith in God shines through.

Where do I go from here? Ten years seems like a major milestone. Do I keep going or do I stop? I don’t have as much to say about the empty nest, but I am a grandmother now and that is definitely a new phase. Traveling is easier and yet more difficult (especially as I get older) but I love to experience new places. I’m thinking of possibly organizing my blog into categories; Empty Nest, Travel, Inspirational, and, of course, Dogs. What do you think?

Thank you for reading my blog and for all the words of encouragement you have shared. I can’t tell you how many times I was ready to quit when someone would say, “I read your blog this morning and it really spoke to me”. It means a lot to me.