There is a blog of my recent acquaintance called "A blog about motherhood in Alaska," that I have found I keep nipping back to, for another quick peek. I find it hard to pin point why I like it so much?
I expect, if I had time to search that there are many other's in a similar vein, but for the time being, this one suits me well. It is a little escape, tinged with a heavy dollop of voyeurism. This is how 'normal' people live. These are the things that they do. This might be an approximation of how my own life might have turned out but didn't. Part admiration, part jealousy?
The writer dismisses my 'normal' label, and rightly so, but it is still so alluring. That mixture of hobbies and pastimes, recipes and outings. It helps that it has a clean fresh screen and other technicalities, but none the less, it is definitely the content, or perhaps what the content represents, that is just so appealing.
I am very lucky in any number of different ways. For instance, I have a lap top, and it sits on the kitchen counter next to the cooker. Always open, always ready. Since these days we all have family and chums all over the world, in their own different time zones, this means that the chance to communicate with them pops up all over the place during the average 24 hours. A few minutes to e-mail, a few seconds to write a line or two, ever present, the unseen hoards in what my otherwise be a lonely existence.
But it was this little post about "table manners," that made me a little queasy. So straight forward and a blast from my own past, a tiny example of the effort that all parents put into bringing up their children in the best way they know how, to give them the best start that they possibly can.
When I had finished reading, I lowered the lid on the lap top to stop the glare, the pricking at my eyes, the blurring of the words on the screen, and returned to the nearly finished washing up. I rinsed it out and laid it to dry on the side, his "spit bowl." I hear my own mother's voice in my head, muttering 'if's and buts and maybes,' along with a whole long list of other truisms.
Then, I reached for a tissue and gave my nose a good blow, so I could start rounding them up for bedtime stories. There's nothing like a good chase and a rally to herd the troops, to give you a good aerobic workout.
I'm a mum who is lucky to have a mother like mine.
52 minutes ago
5 comments:
I didn't realize that I was writing anything of use--thank you for the compliment and look forward to reading more of your posts.
Wow. I just read through a bit of your blog and found many of your posts (this one especially) moving and poignant. It makes me aware that I need to be more grateful for "normal" and more sensitive to the people around me to whom life has given more difficulty than I currently have to deal with. Keep up the excellent writing... I'll be back! :)
What an honest post. "Normal" is a curse most of us should be grateful to have. You are a warrior mommy, chosen to carry a heavier sword than the rest of us...we can only encourage you and wonder how you do it?
Yep; I would never switch kids with any of my friends, but every once in a while I –do- find myself blowing my nose and having to clean my glasses, I confess.
It's nice when we can finally appreciate our moms, isn't it? And when I think of all the time I spent thinking mine was daft, I cringe.
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