Why I Blog

Let's be honest, I started blogging back in 2008 because my wedding planning -which had occupied most of my brainpower up until that point- had come to an abrupt end following our actual wedding (woohoo!) And I had just finished reading Julie & Julia 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen. And we were living three hours from our families in Erie, PA.  And we had little else occupying our days than work, trying out hole-in-the-wall pubs for their wings, and laughing at our sweet kitten Lola.  Blogging was a way for me to update our family about what was happening in our life and convert unused brainwaves into words.

And so it went for a long while; me just writing rambles in my brain about our regular life.  But then after some time in the blogosphere, I started writing about our 12 Months of Kindness and also writing some non-diary style posts and I started to see my little section of the internet as less of a journal and more of a collection of meaningful stories of my life and of me; who I am right in this moment.

In early 2012, two full months after posting it, my 25 Rules for Moms with Sons hit a tipping point (at this moment that one post of mine has been viewed 2,060,901 times:  un.believe.able.) and I experienced the bizarre feeling that happens when you suddenly realize people who don't know you in any capacity are now reading the linings of  your brain. It's both exhilarating and terrifying.

today, I blog for vastly different reasons and to a much larger audience (hello!!) than I ever could have imagined back in 2008 when I started in our little townhouse as a newlywed with hopes of becoming a mom someday.  Oh, sweet, little, clueless Tabitha, how I love to think of you sometimes worrying about how you'll spend up all the hours in a day.  lolololololololol. you're so adorable.

yep, current keyboard missing buttons thanks to toddlers.

today, I blog because I feel like I am part of a community, like I have discovered inspiring and incredible friends in other bloggers and readers.  I identify with these women; they are 'my friends' in whom my husband and sisters know them by name or back story.  They are a source of inspiration for me and of real connection.  A few weekend ago, I sat in my dark hotel room with my sleeping babies near by and openly wept for my instagram friend Beri and her son; their lives have been in my heart and on my mind for the past several weeks.  I see an update in my blog feed from Ashley, Shelly, Shellie, or Ellie and I feel actual delight that I get to read and learn more about my friends; like a new email from a friend in your inbox.

I blog because I can write about what I want to say so much better than I can actually say what I want to say (this, this, and this).  My brain thinks in paragraphs highlighted in quotation marks and setting references.  Ideas for blogs and scenes from my novel float and drift behind my eyes all day.  To not write would be to choose handcuffs.

I blog because it is a record of who I am in my life right now.  It tracks all the things that are bottled up in my brain that don't come out during my days filled with sippy cups, sticky toddler hands, and giggles.  Someday my kids will think I'm horrible!  The worst!  The very last person on the Earth who would understand what they're going through or be able to relate in any way.  Or worse (please no), for some tragic reason I won't be around - then on that day, maybe they can come here and read these words and get to know their mother.

It's been a weird and wonderful journey through blogging and I am so grateful to have found and stuck with it for all this time.  I'm still hanging around, despite my lack of posts in the past few weeks.  Winter and basketball season and sick kids and babies who refuse bottles have taken over my life...but I can see the end of the tunnel and I can't wait to be back to blogging as usual.  Thanks for sticking around.  I honestly appreciate you for spending any amount of your day with me and my thoughts.  thank you, thank you, thank you.