Dear Girl sporting the "
Owls" sweater designed by Kate over at
Needled, which is my other favorite new blog. If I'm going to knit for this kid for Christmas, its time to get busy. But I'll need to find another pattern just as cute. I mean really, how awesome is this pattern? Totally awesome!
Today I updated this post by deleting the first half in order to simplify the second and more important half of the post about Kate Davies Owl Sweater.
ReplyDeleteThe original post began: I used to have another blog but I shut it down. I've been bloggless for awhile. And I miss it. I miss the writing and the blogosphere connection. Its really hard to connect with other folks if you don't have yourself anchored online somewhere, a way to say, "here I am, who I am." Because, as we learned from my dead neighbor, people can only know what you are willing to share. So here I am on a new secret blog. And I've already started connecting with other bloggers. It all feels so cozy and nice.
Which bloggers? Well, Wise Craft, for one. I like her blog and enjoy her willingness to engage. I left a long note on her blog and I'm going to put it here as well. So that one day, when the Dear Children are grown and reading here, they'll maybe understand why this secret blog is important to me:
We allowed Dear Girl to start a blog. She's 11. Her blog is not connected to any of mine and its invitation only. I helped her set it up and invited a group of folks I approved. She's been blogging for a few months and I'm surprised at her dedication to it. Actual writing happens there occasionally. More importantly, thinking about writing happens everyday for her because of the blog. And thinking about photography happens. And thinking about her life as a cohesive event. Basically, all the same gifts blogging gives us. Which I think is pretty rich and lovely. Of those, that last one is most subtle but important. At the end of the day and the end of the blog, what does my life equal? Isn't blogging a tool to answer that, even if unconsciously?
Blogging a family life presents very real and dicey issues, for sure. I've been thinking about it a while, as a mother who is most concerned with protecting my kids. (Of course.) But recently I've also begun thinking about it from the kid's point of view. What would I give to have a log from my mother from our time together in the 70s? It would be hugely precious to me and not just for sentimental reasons. And then, its also true that these kid's adult lives will mostly likely be online. Facebook privacy settings will look quaint by the time these kids grow up. By the time they are grown a Mommy Blog will be as common as the family photo album was for us. I think.
Am I rationalizing? Someone in real life could find this new secret blog. But I'm pretty serious about not telling anyone. And there are no identifiers. I'm not going to promote this commercially. It only gets minus n~th hits a day. And if someone did find it, there is still nothing intensely personal from the kids here.
My question is why must it be open to be interesting to me? Is my ego that ill? I don't think its ego-illness. I think its because mothering is such an isolating job. Its okay to sit here at my table with my tiny candles flickering, talking about the truth of our life as I see it, being open to discussing it with other moms. That dialog/blog helps me be a better mother as well as more creative. Right? I hope so, anyway.