Reasons for Blogging: Two years later

 I am so excited about the look and feel of our new site!  I’ve been blogging for Urbanmoms for about 2 years now, and it’s become an integral, hugely fulfilling part of my life.  At this milestone time, which coincides with the site’s “rebirth”, I find myself reflecting on the reasons I started blogging in the first place:

1.  This whole child-raising thing goes by so fast.  I want to make sure and document it so I remember these precious and fleeting moments.  Whether it’s a glorious day in the park on the due date of my third baby, a memorable afternoon baking holiday cookies or a tear-inducing tantrum at a big-box store.  I want to remember it all.  I want to be able to read my posts and savour them when my kids are at university or busy with their own lives.

2.  I need to write.  I’ve always written.  Can’t remember not writing – whether it was melodramatic, overly-sentimental short stories as a pre-pubescent, essays and articles for the school paper at McGill or later, attempts at getting published (which many times resulted in rejection).  I’ve had success with writing, failures and disappointments too.  But, at the end of the day, I log on and I write.  It’s cathartic, I feel a sense of release and productivity.

3.  A new reason that’s emerged from writing this blog is the satisfaction of creating and communicating with other women who are like-minded and expressive in the written form.  I’ve formed bonds with women I’ve never met, and been moved to tears by the stories and feedback of my fellow bloggers.  Mothering can be isolating – especially the winters – but even on those days when I can’t leave the house because of a sick kid or hellish weather, I’m still social, communicative and active within my community of online moms.