Blogiversary

Today is the one year anniversary of my very first blog post. I think it's funny that I decided to title the post, "This is actually a craft blog." It was clear even then that it wasn't really a craft blog, but I think I needed there to be the intent of a crafting agenda in order to get started. I've always loved writing, and kept journals for several years. But once I got pregnant, I was suddenly unable to write in my journal at all. Before having babies I think I viewed my journal as a therapeutic tool, a way to escape from the outside world and really figure out what was going on inside my head. After the kids were born, and I became a stay-at-home-mom, I began longing for a connection with the outside world rather than an escape from it. I spent all day alone with my thoughts and the needs of the kids, and as much as I wanted to have a written record of my experience, it didn't feel necessary to put any of what I was thinking about down on paper only so that I could read it again later.

Blogging is different because there's an audience, and thus more of a purpose to writing. The potential to inspire someone, widen someone's perspective, or even to make someone chuckle a little is enough to make it feel more worthwhile than simply writing in a personal journal. Blogging also added a new element to my days. Like sewing or painting or knitting, writing a blog entry is a tangible accomplishment that won't shortly undo itself and need to be done again (like getting the baby down for a nap, finishing the dishes or folding the laundry). While my daily activities didn't change once I had a blog to write about them in, I suddenly felt like I was doing so much more, or that what I was doing mattered more, or that at least it wasn't going unnoticed.

Writing a blog hasn't changed my life exactly, but it's changed the way I look at my life. A friend commented to me once how sometimes she feels like when people write blogs, they only write about the good stuff, and the blogs can become an unrealistic snapshot of what the bloggers' lives are really like. It's never been my intent to misrepresent our life, and while I pick and choose what to write about (for some reason the kids' recent cough/pink eye/ear infection illness hasn't made it here yet), I don't intentionally leave anything out. An online acquaintance recently mentioned that she enjoys reading my blog although it sometimes makes her "feel inadequate," a comment I found shocking. It made me worry that my own inadequacies have been failing to come through in my writing. I make a conscious effort to include my less-brilliant mothering moments, the often-times difficult personalities of my three children, and my struggles with figuring out what kind of life I want to live. That said, I do feel like keeping a blog has encouraged me to find the "silver lining" in any given situation. Take this photograph of grumpy Lukas:

I remember being struck by the beauty of the light reflecting off of his hair and the way he so confidently displays his feelings for all to see, and I chose to capture the moment rather than getting wrapped up in whatever it was that was making him pout. I think that by putting a positive spin on any given situation (either by choosing to find it funny rather than devastating or by using it as an opportunity to change things up) I do run the risk of portraying our family as being more perfect or happy or together than we truly are, but at the same time my own perceptions of things truly have changed for the better since I've started writing here. So, if I am painting a prettier picture than what reality might actually look like, well then the trick's on me, too.

I would love for anyone reading this blog to mark my blogiversary by introducing yourself or sending along a link to your own blog, or by starting a blog, if you don't already have one, and then sending along the link. Spread the blogging love and find the beauty in your lives where you didn't know it was (i.e. in the face of your obstinate kindergartener).