What's In a Name?

I realize that "The Middle Ground" is a difficult blog name to interpret if you were not present upon its creating. I probably should have explained the name of my blog in one of my first posts, but, you know how life is, you do what you can. :)

Anyway, I didn't chose a name like "The Random Thoughts of Jessica" or "A Day in the Life of Jessica" or "I Love Jonathan" or "Welcome to my World," not because any of those names are inherently bad, simply because they just aren't me.

I think that a name, even for a blog, is important. Names are, in a way, a definition, so I chose to give my blog a name that defined my life, one that defined me. After all, my blog doesn't exist to further an agenda that I have; my blog exists for me, for my friends, for my family, and for anyone else who happens upon this pit stop in cyber space. It's about my life, what I'm doing, hearing, seeing, and experiencing. It's about sharing learned information with others. It's about communication. It's about connection.

The name, "The Middle Ground," was the result of a variety of conversations between some of my closest friends and I about our lives. We were laughing and joking that nothing exciting ever happens to us here in Searcy.

The consensus at the conclusion of the conversation went something like this:

"There's the exciting life, the boring life, and the mediocre life. We have mediocre lives. We're the middle ground; not too exciting, but not too boring either."

I decide that I really like the middle ground. My life isn't so exciting that I can't take pleasure in the little things, nor is it so boring that I feel the need to be ashamed of it. My life is in the middle, and I think that's where I'll choose to keep it. Life in the middle ground is beautiful. I am a regular person, not so regular that I can't be an individual, but not so individual that I can't be regular.

I enjoy the life that I lead with my family and friends. We have a great time. Sometimes we're running so fast through life that we can hardly catch our breaths and sometimes the days move so slowly that they feel like years and sometimes we're drowning in the ocean of heartache and sometimes we're having so much fun we can hardly stand it; that's what the middle ground, the mediocre life, is like.

Thus, "The Middle Ground" was born. As a representation of myself and extension of my thoughts and feelings, I thought it only appropriate to honor this blog with a name that described my life so accurately.