There was a time back in the early seventies when, for a short time, I was a stay at home mom. I was selling Tupperware at night and babysitting two hell-on-wheels toddlers during the day, and still managed to become addicted to several daytime soap operas. After I went back to work it took me almost a year to get where I could go home and not have this crushing urge to stop off at my neighbors for an update on the lives of Llanview or to find out what disaster had befallen the staff at General Hospital.
I vowed back then to never get hooked on another television serial, and have remained true to that promise for the most part. But, now we are in that new era of the internet and I find that I have become hopelessly hooked on blogs, or to be more precise, certain blogs. I use to read quite a few on a regular bases, I slowly let some fade away. But, my dear Frank became attracted to several of my favorites and now he will read them to me. I love the sound of his voice and he is so good at adding all the nuances to the text that I would much rather listen to him then read them for myself. Regardless, I am now addicted to keeping up with the happenings of poor Mahala over in Frog Pond Holler. I can’t help but cry along with the suffering of that sweet lady with cancer that slept with Robert DeNero; or laughing at the adventures of Risible Girl. (By the way if you want to check them out the links can be found on my blog.)
I hate to admit it but I do a better job of keeping up with the lives of these strangers than I do with my own siblings and their families; most of whom live within 10 miles of me. In fact one of my brothers and his family are just three houses down the street. Why is that? Well between work, church, community involvements and their children’s activities most of my brothers and sisters are seldom home and I feel guilty intruding on what little private time they do have as a family. I can pop in for a visit with the Old Lady of the Hills any time of day or night and how long I stay will not interfere with either of our schedules.
That is why all of my spare time recently has been spent setting up and maintaining family blogs for both sides of my extended family. I would rather be able to read about the activities and events in the lives of my own relatives than strangers halfway across the country. Yes the blogs I read are written by people with a talent for writing that can make even mundane things seem interesting as well as find a way to add humor to living with cancer, but, I know there is an equal amount of talent in my own family. But, regardless of whether writing comes easy or not, I would welcome the feeling of closeness that comes from being included in the daily happenings of those you love.
So I hope that all of you reading this will get on the blogging bandwagon and find a way to use blogging as a way to occasionally update everyone on what is going on in your lives.
