The Road to Blogging

This post has its roots in a comment I received to my computer widows post.

Blogging amuses me. It is my new toy. I enjoy reading other people's blogs. If I could ever figure out how to get a blog role working I could share who I'm reading. I'll give it to you in the long drawn out form:

The first blog I ever read was a friend's. I have always loved how she puts her thoughts out into the blogosphere and she is so darn funny. Then I started reading Mike's blog over at The Gates. This is a more thoughtful blog. One where I look at a topic, mull it around, possibly comment, take it with me when I leave and contemplate. Over at The Gates I looked at the blog roll and thought I'd check out what other people are doing. I found Oh, for the Love of God. It is a combination of sleepymom and The Gates. She led me to MIM (straight up mom who tells it like it is via cute kid stories) who led me to Mary P. (great kid stories and awesome parenting guidance) who led me to The Tutu Boutique (A place where a Dad a talks about being a Dad). These are my usual lurking places. All of which take about 10 minutes to check and laugh or contemplate. I do this before the kiddos wake up or while they are eating breakfast, or during nap time, if I have time that day.

I started my own blog to be a place for me to spew my thoughts. Kick them around, look at them up on the not so big screen. And to put fun things to remember like the purple crayon. Now I am enjoying blogging for a whole new dimension. Commenters. Anonymous has been very challenging and has shown me a lot in myself in a very short time. This is why I am blogging. Anon is forcing me to look at what I've said through the eyes of an observer. I then have to question, Is this what I am trying to say? And I get to have a good, challenging banter in the process.

I was so emotional in my teen years that I had a very hard time putting my thoughts into words. I gave up. The less said the easier it was to move on without people challenging me and making me more emotional. This didn't fly very well early in marriage and I had to work hard to use the words I had neglected for years. I have a patient hubby who would not let me get away with saying "Whatever" while walking away. But then my next challenge in communication came. Saying what I mean. In those teenage years I had become very careless with what I said. I didn't THINK about what I truly wanted or needed to say. Particularly when emotional. I am still not very good at this and it makes me very hesitant to discuss things in groups. I am learning and this is a very fun, yet safe forum to practice such skills. Call it Blog Therapy. Cheap therapy. Good times.