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Monday, February 4, 2008

What Blogging Does for Me

I read such an interesting quote
this morning.

It was one of those moments when you say
"YES! THAT is what I haven't been able to find the words to say!"

Let me back up....
I was flipping through the magazine Wonder Time
( why do I even still get these kid centered magazines?
I feel too old for them, even if my kids aren't!)

and came across an article called Confessions of a Mommy Blogger

This article caught my eye for a couple of reasons-
first off because it is about blogging
and then because it is by Catherine Newman
and I just finished her book Waiting for Birdy
just last week.

In this article,
she answered the question that I am often asked
but find myself completely unable to answer...

Why blog?

She says:
"Blogging is the underbelly of scrapbooking,
its tantruming, scatalogical doppelganger...

If scrapbooking is the urge  to put it all together,
blogging might be the urge to take it all apart.
Blogging might not make life tidier,
but it keeps life in your memory,
and keeps it real."

How perfect a description is that?
I totally see blogging as the hidden red headed stepchild
of the parenting world.

You seldom see scrapbooking pages on
"The day I threatened to kick my child into Thursday of next week"
or
"Why I wear a digital watch: so I don't forget to pick up my third child from preschool."

No, scrapbooking pages are for 
Zoo trips!
First Smiles!
Grandparent Visits and First Teeth!

The exclamation moments of life.

But life is also made up  of millions
of other moments, 
the kind we forget
when we tell how it really was, 
ten years later.

So if you want to know why I blog...
there you have it.

PS- You can read Catherine's blog at benandbirdy.blogspot.com.

4 comments:

NotsoDG said...

I agree! To me, blogging is like scrap-booking without the mess.

Plus, it's a lot more fun. :)

Gina said...

My pictures are all untidily tossed in boxes.. If scrapbooking is putting it all together and blogging is tearing it all apart it's no wonder my blog is such a mess!

Richard Lewis said...

I think she's got a point. I see it as a new way of telling stories. Kind of like an extension of letter writing, or keeping a very public diary. In any event, it's your warehouse of memories, thoughts and reflections scattered here and there like rumpled shirts in the closet.

Marla said...

I read that article a few weeks ago! It is so the reason I blog! I go through phases of not blogging (usually a few days) and then I will blog again, but I HAVE to have my blog! I HAVE to read blogs, it is what makes me happy!

I scrapbook too and can safely say I have never done a page that complained about my children, but wouldn't that complete a scrapbook?? I lol

Have a great day!
Marla