Why I do this the way that I do
Last summer a very good friend expressed concerns about putting yourself so “out there” onto the internet using social websites and blogs. At the time I wasn’t sure how to express myself accurately to him about why I was so open with this blog. Brad and I have since had many, many conversations on the topic regarding using names, pictures, etc. Today I read this post by Catherine about Mommy Blogging and whether or not it is child exploitation because she was interviewed for this article. I now have very strong opinions on the subject and it made me want to share this discussion with those who read our blog. I think that this blog post and many of the defending comments to the original article sum it up for me. In fact, my post yesterday about connections touched on a lot of these feelings as well. I know that’s a lot of links but it’s worth it, trust me.
I believe that our world is changing and the internet is, like any tool, going to be used for good and bad. It is evolving into something that we can’t comprehend as we rush headlong into it with either great fear or great glee. I have chosen the optimistic approach because I think that becoming part of this now will benefit myself and my family in the near future as the internet morphs into it’s next incarnation. I am fully aware of the negative potential since Dusty is a technology security genius (my word not his) and Brad is a social media technology preacher. I don’t think that there is a right or wrong answer as we all make the best choices that we can for our own personal and family comfort level in uncharted waters.
All I know is that when I was pregnant, with twins, I wanted to read about other’s experiences. I spent a lot of time searching the internet to connect with others. I decided that I wanted to go ahead and move my private LiveJournal blog out for anyone who may find some use in what I have experienced. Because of that choice, I’ve been blessed to connect with amazing parents and to find incredibly talented writers who give words to emotions that I’ve had as a new parent, as a mom, and as a woman. I find myself inspired on several levels. I find myself connected. I am not good at hiding away aspects of myself. So I have to be authentic with this blog as a way to communicate how the boys are doing with their grandparents as well as to communicate how I am doing with my friends, I just don’t know any other way.
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Comments
That connection is so vital, isn’t it? Motherhood has become so much more isolating than it used to be, and social networking provides a community that would be hard to find otehrwise. Especially when the mother has circumstances that just aren’t part of most other mothers’ experience (like having twins).
warning, long comment…
i meant to leave a comment on your connections post. it is such a true thing, the way we have become connected by this medium. i have ‘met’ you and your family through this blog, i have met tracey thru you, HDYDI moms, so many. i really needed these connections, the first few months i was blogging with mamas of singletons and though they were awesome women to commune with, i still felt lonely, isolated in my twin mamahood.
now, i follow your developments (though i do not comment each time, i read each post). i laugh at the boys antics, smile at their accomplishments and feel good/sad/understanding etc when you write of your time and reactions. i feel like i know you though we rarely email and have never met.
and that is my only beef with the internet. i know you and your family, but wish we lived 10 blocks, ten minutes, not ten states away. i wish the women i ‘talk’ to on the net lived close enough to hug, to meet, to go to the park with. because for the first time i have found women i like, with like values, but just not in the same place that i reside. that is the only suck factor to all this.
now, onto forest. he sounds so much like my mason. i know you made that connection too. and logan and owen seem to have similar characteristics. i love that forest is getting his share of teeth, sounds like it is not nearly as bad as it is for mason. and that you can see him changing from baby to boy. it seems like owen has been a toddler since 6 months, but macie is my baby. tonight he had a hard time going down. i went in, picked him up for a hug and he immediately fell asleep, little snuffles on my shoulder. i started to cry because i realized this night last year was the last night they were inside of me. that they came from me and were never going to be back there. i am rarely a sentimental mom, i have yet to wish they were back at a previous stage. but tonight my tears fell as i realized each step they take into their selves is a step away from that place/time when they physically resided in me, under my heart. precious and heartachingly lovely, this world of mam to two, isn’t it?
we are so lucky, i feel lucky to have you and your family as part of my life and i ook forward to the chance to meet up if it all works out. smiles and really big hugs, dawn. you are awesome.