
Before this blog came into being, it had a name. A phrase Gav coined at the start of our marriage. I remember it well. A Sunday in late November. Sitting in our friends' spare room feeling just a bit disorientated, having moved to one place just after our honeymoon, only to move again within a week.
Thankfully it wasn't a new experience to either of us - just one not weathered together.
So we sat there, boggled-eyed and bewildered, wondering what to do next. Unpack? Sleep? Go downstairs and be sociable?
And then Gav gets up. "I'm off to shop. Fancy a breakfast bap?"
Joy, joy, joy. Just at the thought of it. I grin. And off he goes. And I, tentatively, start to unpack.
On his return I whooop ridiculously when he walks in bearing the best pair of baps I'd seen in a long time. Big, fat and dripping with grease. And so we tuck in.
Later that day, with clothes now in piles around us and a few bits and bobs on the bedside tables, we chat. Mainly about how to spend the wedding money we'd been given, so generously, by friends and family. What about a car? A van? An old horsebox to do up and make into a home? Why not just travel for a bit? Go to Cambodia, Mongolia or just anywhere that's warm?
Neither of us have a clue, really, what to do. It's just nice thinking about the possibilities. And dreaming, together. A novel experience for the pair of us. This marriage thing being unchartered territory.
And then we start to think about this journey we're on. This sudden shared adventure.
And wonder about writing. Something we both did when we were courting. As short-lived as it was. Poems and ditties mainly. Spontaneous ones when we were just messing about together. And more deliberate, thoughtful ones when we were apart.
How about writing a blog? Could be a laugh. And a way of keeping in touch with people. Our wedding had been such an amazing peopley time. We’d felt so supported and loved. And we didn’t want to lose that feeling somehow. That sense of being surrounded and held by so many.

So that afternoon, after a few false starts, Gav came out with it: “Onwardly Mapless! How about that for a title?”
And it just sat right.
“That’ll do.”
And then we went on with the day. With that week. With the rest of the month. But not with the blog, as it turned out.
We had enough going on back then, just getting used to each other and settling into a new life. A nesting, hidden time. So the blog got shelved. Waiting for a more opportune time.
Which, just over three years later, appears to be now. And we’re still as Onwardly Mapless as ever. Still finding our way. Still up for a laugh. Still wanting to connect with and treasure the people we love. Only this time a bit more weathered and hopefully a bit wiser. Ready to emerge and write, wherever that may lead.
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