An introduction to me…

For those of you who don’t already know me, my name is Mary-Margaret Rose McGowan, but Maggie is much simpler. For those of you who do know me… Hello! I hope you’re all doing well and navigating through this challenging time with smiles on your faces and a whole lot of love in your hearts.

It might come as a shock to some that I started a blog, I am as shocked as anyone. For the past four days I have been in self-isolation with my family, and I quickly realized I have a huge need to create. A blog is not the first place I was drawn to when looking for a creative outlet, unsurprisingly I looked to music first. However, I simply cannot sing and play for eight straight hours a day… for the sanity of my neighbors and family members. Isolation has emphasized something I have always known about myself but been able to mostly ignore due to the sheer insanity of everyday life… I have A LOT to say.

The idea of starting a blog came to me as I sent another lengthy text to one of my best friends, Angelina (Gigi to me). I have too much to say and I value Gigi’s sanity enough to spare her my chaos. Naturally, I took a poll and was ultimately encouraged by a friend who has a wonderful blog that quickly became one of my favorite things to read, a way for me to learn things about someone I otherwise wouldn’t have known. Learning about one another is so important. We’re all different people in our varying social environments and I figure social isolation is as good a time as ever for us to re-center ourselves or learn how to in my case.

The title for this blog was probably the easiest part of creating this whole thing. The web design was a product of Jimmy’s patience and creative funding for the price of the website was entertained by my dad, considering the balance of my checking account leaves much to be desired. “Rose among the thorns” has been a phrase used throughout my whole life. As I previously introduced myself to you, my middle name is Rose. I am the only girl sandwiched in-between my older and younger brother, leaving me among the thorns. If you know my brothers you know they’re far from thorns, but the name stuck. It’s not only been my nickname but a good way for me to understand the reality of life and the balance of our ups and downs.

I hope this blog brings some joy to you all, and if not joy then perhaps humor, even if its at my expense. I can’t promise you’ll enjoy or agree with everything I write, but I’ve personally always found people different than me to be the most interesting. Our differences don’t have to result in confrontation but should be opportunities for all of us to learn from each other.

In addition to what I write I plan on posting a collection of photos each month, I take way too many pictures to not start sharing them all.

If you’ve made it this far in this post, thank you. Your interest in my random thoughts means the world to me and I hope you’ll continue to read them.

Please keep being good people, the world needs it right now.

-Maggie