Blog Train Sounding Louder...

.....Glide On The Blog Train! Seriously, who doesn't get that song stuck in their head for days at a time? Oh. You don't listen to the Best Hits of the Sixties and Seventies eight hours a day like I do. Hmm.

What's WRONG with you?

So I have been thinking lately about blogging and the whole internet thang. This is probably spurred by some well-meaning friends who were worried that I was sharing private details of my life online and would therefore be tracked down and harrassed by some pervert. I wondered if maybe they were right. Maybe I shouldn't be doing this! I started thinking about why I blog and what I have learned over these past 5 months. Here is what I have come up with:

---It is my journal. I have tried to keep a regular journal for YEARS but haven't been able to do so. The last entry is May 6, 2004. It is about 2 paragraphs long and not only is it extremely boring, it is not finished. Having an "audience" waiting for me to make my next entry makes me accountable. Plus I save my blog on the computer and I am planning to print it out and put it in a book for my kids. I would have NEVER written so consistently or so detailed if I didn't blog. I'm excited for my kids to get older and read it. I want them to know who "Mom" really was while they were growing up.

---It is my creative outlet. Sometimes I feel that being a stay-at-home mom has turned my mind into mush. When I finished writing my first "real" blog I was AMAZED at how I felt. It was like I actually used the creative part of my brain. I had to THINK about things instead of just DO things. I had to use real English, remember all the parts of speech and how to write. (I still have issues with that, haha) I had not written anything for so long and it was nice to get back into it. I was giddy with excitement and couldn't wait to write the next one. It was love at first blog, haha.

---It is MINE. It's MY blog, not my husband's, my kids' or anyone else's. A place where I can go to be me, write about what I want and the way I feel about things. I have discovered so much about myself through blogging. What I like, what I don't like. I never realized that I could be witty. That was a nice realization. It makes me feel good to know that people occasionally smile when they read my stuff. I like making people happy, even if it just for a few moments. (Jeez, I'm such a friggin' people pleaser)

---It is a way to share our lives with my friends and family. Lotsa people have told me how much they enjoy reading it because they feel like they actually know what is going on in our lives. Most of our family and a lot of our friends live far away and I am sure it is a lot more enjoyable for them to read than it would be for them to listen to my jabbering on the phone. In real life I am constantly forgetting punchlines and trailing off midsentence. No one likes that!


There would be so much I would miss if I stopped blogging. I would miss the writing, I would miss reading your comments, I would miss visiting other blogs, I would miss thinking, "Oooh, that is SO bloggable!" whenever a good idea came along. Pretty much I would find a corner, curl up in a little ball and start a rockin'. Blogging is truly something that I look forward to every day. Something that makes me so happy cannot be a bad thing.

The internet has definitely changed the face of the world. I'm convinced though that it is a good thing, and that the good parts of it outweigh the bad. Yes, there are psychos, creeps and all things weird but there are also nice, good, decent people just like me. Because of that, I'm not going to stop the Blog Train anytime soon.

Blog on, people. BLOG ON.