Someone asked me today while I blog... and once I got to thinking about it I realized that I wish I'd been blogging years longer.
Why do I blog? well, folks - without sounding mushy or gushy... (because I'm neither... really - you won't see THIS girl melting into a puddle when Mighty Joe Young rescues the toddler from the runaway ferris wheel - and don't believe anyone who tells you otherwise!) Crud, can't a girl have ONE pregnancy meltdown and not have to be called a crybaby for the next ten years?
anywho... without the gushiness - I blog for YOU - my loyal readers. I blog for your witty comments, I blog for your encouragement, I blog for your understanding... but most of all I blog for your entertainment... hoping thereby to glean just a tiny bit of glory out of my day. I've never claimed to be a "writer" - at least not in those terms... but I do like to put my little piece of wit, wisdom, or whining out there for the world to appreciate (or hate) because that's just how I am.
Let's rewind life about 20 years whilst I admit what a HUGE mega-geek I was in High School. Okay - I was actually a total closet geek because I actually had some pretty cool friends and I hid well the fact that inbetween school and work I would often turn on the computer and sign in to a BBS. See - only a true 80's geek will even KNOW what a BBS is! Basically it was the precursor to chat rooms (which I totally abhor... so why did I BBS? Let's call it peer pressure - family can be "peers" too right?)
I would check in with my "friends" Miss Scarlett, Cappy, and Brave Little Toaster - who knew me as Gidget (yes, the Girl Midget... shut it, I'm only 4'11'') and we would exchange witty repartee in a VERY basic way. I actually met some of these people once... and felt COMPLETELY out of place... like a Cheerleader at a Trek Convention... but as long as the screen names were in place, I was one of them.
that didn't last long - college, marriage, kids, etc... happened and my life was full - and crazy.
So nearly 20 years happened in between the BBS and my discovery of blogging. Don't get me wrong - I think I managed just fine "on my own" but there are times where I think blogging would have been a helpful outlet.
Take Kansas for instance.
Now - I know I have one wonderful Kansas yoga guru follower that might take issue with the fact that I hate that state. I still do, I can't help it. We lived there for two years... two years full of illness, marital discord, small children (some of whom were mine), working too many hours, a miscarriage, lack of friends, lack of money, and even me DREADING going to church - which has always been my save haven... I won't go into detail because I don't want this blog to become another Mighty Joe Young moment... but I hated it. Every. Single. Day. I have one or two people who I still love dearly that I'd love to see... except they live in Kansas and you couldn't get me back there for under a million bucks (okay, okay - $20,000 but that's as low as I go!).
I think if I'd had a blog - and been able to VENT my frustrations on someone other than the ManOfTheHouse... I think there might have been a little more peace and harmony in our home... or at least that's what I tell myself!
(with sincere apologies to ALL Kansas bloggers... I wish YOU had been my neighbor...)
Helaman 4:8 -- On Siding With God
2 days ago
14 comments:
It's funny because I blog for much of the same reasons. I balked at it for the longest time, too. Every time I'd ask my brother what was up he'd reply, "Have you read my blog?"
When he moved I started to read his blog and even started blogging myself. He has pretty much stopped.
Curses.
By the way, if I had a witty comment this morning, I'd have said it here. Sorry, it's still kind of early for wit. I'm just glad I never lived in Kansas, no matter what Dorothy said about there being no place like home.
I always wondered why you were in hate with Kansas, now I know.
I love your writing style and you DO make me laugh.
Hope you are enjoying your peace and quiet. It will come to an end you know..........(laundry!)
Ya, I wish I had been able to blog when my kids were little. I see so many great ideas for moms "out there" and it would have been fun to have some emotional support when I was in the trenches feeling like I was the only person on the planet that was sleepless for 10 years.
I do feel that way actually. That I would have loved to have feedback on some of the things I went through before I discovered blogging.
I'm just glad blogging helped us become IRL friends!
Love ya!
Whatever the reason, or reasons, I'm glad you blog!!
All of my inlaws live right outside of Kansas City, but the Missouri side. They keep trying to convince us to move there. I can't do it. No mountains!
I guess Dorothy was mistaken when she said, "There's no place like home." Unless your home isn't Kansas.
YAY and Cheers for blogging!
Your smallness might come in handy 'cause if I'm sleaking at LAdy Blogger's social I'm stuffing you in my suitcase and you are coming with me.
For REALS!
Ger ready for some FUN In vegas!
We should tell Denae like when it is official. She can see me speak. Maybe. Or something.
I love it when you blog!
Writing--especially for a blogging audience--is amazingly cathartic. I'm glad I've got it--and you to. :)
(Never been to Kansas, but I have places I hate just as much because of what happened there. I'd need at least 20K to go back there too. :)
I feel the similarly about where I live now and blogging correlated with moving here and really has saved me (and my marriage). Or maybe it is part of the problem (time suck = ignoring some things I should be doing instead).
Why do I blog? Because then my time-wasting can be called "family history", and I can totally feel justified. It works for me, and allows me to ignore other things, like the laundry, the cleaning, the children...just kidding about that last one...kinda. Keep the posts comin'!
I am so hoping this is a witty comment, but I doubt it.
I don't blog for the same reasons as you do, but I am sure glad you do blog because you do a fine job of it.
BTW, I was a Scoutmaster for 5 years. I am not a huge scouter even though I am an Eagle too, but I think it serves a great purpose.
I cried at the end of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Movie. True story. And my hubby will NEVER let me live it down. Never.
I blog so I am not the one in Costco with a gun.
I'm sorry that Kansas was that bad. I'm sorry I didn't call you every day to make it a bit better! I think my journals did for me what the blog does for you. It was a place to vent -- there just was (shockingly) a lack of feedback. The phone was helpful to me in hard times and it was frustrating when nobody was home!
I am sorry you don't like Kansas. If you would have been my neighbor you would have loved it here. Kansas is my home of more years than I can count, and I love it.
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