On mommy blogging

Last month I was contacted by a local writer for an upcoming interview on Columbus moms who blog, thanks to a referral from Christina. My first reaction was "Oh man, I'm going to be quoted and I'm going to say something totally stupid..." but I really wanted to participate. (Plus, FREE PR!) Well, as it turns out, my paranoia was a bit exaggerated and the quotes she used were just fine. Although I sound a bit like a walking poster child for mother's guilt. And I stop to think, why do I sound that way? Because truth is, I thought I overcame that issue, but I think I still carry some guilt with me for being a working mother. And what is that emotion really... guilt for working? Men don't seem to suffer from this at all. The emotion is truly ironic, because truth is, we're doing well by our kids by showing them the value of hard work and setting a good example as a woman that we can do more than just master domesticity, which I think will in turn benefit my sons when they grow older and choose relationships with women. I don't imagine my sons will ever end up expecting any woman to cook and clean for them, which is an extremely important lesson. But alas, all that is far in the future, and for now all I seem to say is, "I can't play checkers with you right now... we'll go on a bike ride later... no, I can't go get ice cream right now..."

So while I don't really blog much about the daily grind of my motherhood anymore, it's still there in the back of my head. I think I've vented plenty on the subject in older blogs and this one on occasion that I don't really feel the need to put much emphasis on it anymore. But there's a great community out there of other women bloggers going through the same thing, at the same time. And it's always been very reassuring. I started blogging back in 2006 as a way to deal with the emotions of weaning my last son, which was an extremely bittersweet time: blissful for not being tied down to breastfeeding anymore, but sad in knowing that this was my last child and therefore I would never be doing it again. I found a great community who understood exactly what I was going through.

Thanks to Susan Owens for the article in Columbus Monthly. It's about as close as I'll ever get to Dooce: my name on the same page as her picture!