Tuesday, July 26, 2005

I am a Mother, Hear Me Blog!

Someone posted a comment on a friend's blog: 'another mommyblog... blah, blah, blah.' Harsh. There are people like that; people that dismiss what they don't understand, people that choose to ridicule what they have no appreciation for. And what is the point of criticizing something you don't know about or even have the interest to learn about?

Of course it still made me feel self-conscious about my Mommyblog. Am I 'blah, blah, blah?' Maybe yes. Maybe I am only thinking out loud, or taking meticulous notes about the daily rituals and passages in a mundane life. The state of my hamper is not nearly as compelling as the suspense of watching the housing bubble inflate, or debating the pros and cons of boycotting France. I rarely spare my time to ponder the lyrics of the latest rap artist or to rant over the overexposure of Brad and Angelina.

I wonder... if more of us took care of our own children, our own spouses, our own gardens, our neighbors and friends, and if we focused on compassion and encouragement... I wonder if life wouldn't be a bit nicer? I don't mean mindless-smileyfaced nice, but nice in a considerate, thoughtful, and supportive way. Nice in a way that friends in need feel they can turn to us for help. Nice in a way that a discouraged child knows that love at home is unconditional. Nice in the way that camping in your own backyard is an adventure delightful enough to make your summer vacation the best ever.

I want to think and write about the greater world, but right now I am a Mommy, and I mean to immerse myself in my Mommy life. Mommies have influence and power, great responsibility and tremendous potential for making life nice. Mommyblogs are for families and friends, for people in similar circumstances and drawing on each other for encouragement, inspiration, humor, for sharing experiences great and small.

Maria is sleeping. She is content and cute. William is working on his homework for his programming class. Alex, Max and their friend Adam are checking out the robot Alex and Geoff have been building. And I am getting ready to make lunch. It's a nice day.

Sunday, July 24, 2005

July~Summer~Family



Natalie, and Aunt Mary holding Maria, my Mom, Alex and Max,
William, Hans and Gretchen...

We were at Hans and Gretchen's place last night, enjoying their new backyard, and Hans' new photo iPod. Both the backyard and the iPod were great. Their yard had been a concrete jungle, with a small, very deep pool, and now it is green and clean, with a sweet little pond in the corner. Max loved feeding the many fish swimming in the sparkling cool. They also got a built in cook center. Hans honored us with his grilling skills. The iPod, plugged in to the television, delivered a slide show with their vacation and adventure photos, family pictures, old pictures that were scanned in and a number of shots from Hans' day job.

Earlier in the day we were at my nephew Jacob's first birthday party, and today we are going to friend Adam's 10th birthday celebration. I wish I could write more, but it's the demands of everything else that are leaving me short of time. Time to throw some laundry at the washer, toss refuse out of the mini van, count clean diapers, find tape, breakfast, check Tamsyn's dogs, present shopping, lunch... Gretchen is racing today. So am I, sort of.