Of the comments I've received about this blog (All over email. What's up peeps? Try the "comment section". Props to Loukia!), most of them are supportive. Some are curious as to why I would want to a.) put personal stories on the web and b.) put personal photos of Z on the web. A few were commenting on all the free time I apparently have and how I should really be looking for other things to do with it. To the latter of you, I respectively say this: Bite me.
My reasons for blogging? With friends and family all so far away, I want them to know Z. I want to connect to the outside world. I need to digest and dissect this crazy thing called motherhood. And I don't really expect that this blog will be so widely read that Z will have trouble walking down the street when she's 25 without someone heckling her with a reference to an embarrassing bath photo. When she is old enough, if I'm still writing a blog, I will ask her permission to write about her publicly. Until then, I take responsibility for sharing what I feel is appropriate.
I've always written; on and off, in diaries and journals for as long as I can remember. Which isn't that long. That's why I write. I have, quite possibly, the world's most useless, capricious, swiss-cheese-has-less-holes memory. Since Z is not the lyrics to an Ace of Base song, I'm afraid my neurons will completely and totally lose her childhood. And as cliched as it is, her first year FLEW by and I already forget things that I thought I couldn't possibly forget (Anyone remember how we spent Chic Geek's first Father's Day last year? No? Well, NEITHER CAN I.). I write about it all so that I remember it. So that when Z is older and wants to know what she was like, what we were like, I can show her.
I'm writing this blog because I don't do scrapbooks.
When I was 16, my mom gave me a diary of hers that she wrote when she was 16. It was an amazing gift, the first time I saw my mom as a real person rather than just my mom. If Z ever wants to read my diaries from when I was 16 (when every entry contained some reference to my burning desire for a part in a "tutu ballet" as well as my love for Richard Marx), I will happily share them with her.
And when someday, maybe, Z is a mom, I will show all this to her and tell her about our long days spent in the backyard, picking lemons and chasing balls, wiping tears and giggling like fiends, stroking Sweet Dog and crushing bugs.
Because, time? It goes soooooo fast.
4 comments:
I read all the entires in one sitting after Kathi passed this on to me. I think it's fabulous, and don't think for a minute that there's something out there "better to do" than capture this time with Zoe. I may possibly have an even more feeble memory than yours, and I am kicking myself that I didn't write more things down 6 short years ago when my first Babybean was small. 2 years into Little Sister, I feel like I can barely remember her babyhood. So I'll just have to vicariously relive it through you and Zoe. Or maybe get my six year old into writing so she can record it all!
I like it, jmk! (I can help remind you what your pre-Zoe life was like, in part.) thanks.
mama jenna rocks! these posts elucidate, invigorate, and make me giggle. i want to reach out with a huge hug and an extra hand (or seven). sharing your words makes me feel much closer than that darn length of california...keep 'em coming, sister!
My mom wrote a daily diary of the first 1 or 2 years of my life, she did the same for my brother. It was so detailed, right on down to the description of my bowel movements (or lack of...). These journals are treasured I read them page by page in high school. I need to read them again. I learned sooooooooo much about myself, my mother, life and motherhood. I learned about what is important. It's a TREASURE that you are creating with your blog. This is why Phoebe's website is so ridiculously involved. Keep it up and enjoy it. I know i'd be thrilled if my childhood memories included picking lemons, crushing bugs and hanging out with my mom, dad and all our friends in the yard. ;)
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