Blogging is a wonderful and mysterious thing. I have stumbled upon a great blog where they offer up writing prompts every week (found it through my fabulous bloggy friend, Bernie over at One Mixed Bag). I am just getting this one in under the wire of the cut off but if you are interested in reading more head on over to The Lightning and The Lightning -Bug to join in the fun. This week’s prompt that I am just barely getting to is as follows:
We want you to share a post that essentially defines who you are. It can be an introduction post, a post about your blog, a particular piece of writing that defines you.
I had so much fun with their challenge a couple weeks ago to write a letter to my 16 year old self that I wrote Dear Miss Insecurity. Today’s is a little different but I will give it a go!
In the blogging world I have found that I pretty much tell all. I am an open book in real life, wear my heart on my sleeve, and am pretty much have lived my life that way. I am who I am. I make no excuses anymore though there was a time when I did. Ask my mom about my “I’m only human” phase somewhere around those difficult teenage years.
If you read my post Dear Miss Insecurity you will see that I really was insecure in my younger years. As I have grown and hopefully matured (though many would disagree with that!) I have gained a sense of who I am and a peace with the fact that God made me just the way He made me for a reason. Now don’t go thinking I am a freak. I don’t think that I am! 🙂 In fact I think I am quite normal! I grew up in a loving family with 2 parents and 3 other siblings–we had a good life and shared a lot of love and laughter along the way. There was always creativity and encouragement surrounding us and it was a good life. I think we were the “normal” family. But as I grow older (where’s my cane?) I realize that what we had was not normal. What we had was special. And I wanted to give that to my own family.
The hub and I were blessed with 2 boys. Now I don’t know what you folks out there with girls do but I absolutely LOVED having boys. Our two were not wild or rambunctious—they were “normal”. Whatever that is. Mr. Beth Ann (as Bernie calls him) and I raised them to be independent thinkers and secure in who they were. I am happy to say that it worked. Somewhere along the line as the song in The Sound of Music says
So somewhere in my youth or childhood
I must have done something good
Our boys are fabulous. I was so blessed to be able to be a stay at home mom and it was the best role that I ever had. I know that not everyone wants that as their primary role but I did and I was, as I say, blessed to be in a position where I could do that. I loved being the room mom and the chauffer. I loved being the house that their friends came to . I did not always love hearing the microwave door slamming and the timer pinging at all hours of the night and wee morning when they were “friend central” but hopefully I wasn’t too grumpy about that.
I had a few jobs over the years, mainly after the boys were in jr high and high school, which included helping run a family business (HUGE learning curve there, folks), being a church secretary and eventually moving into a church director role of adult ministry and outreach. It was a great gig. Now my role has changed somewhat and aside from being Mr. Beth Ann’s personal assistant I am the traveling help. Whether it is to help the boys get settled in their new places or helping out with my father in law it is what is in the cards for me right now. Pretty awesome gig. Again, I am blessed.
I started writing this blog mainly to keep in touch with the family back in the US when Mr. Beth Ann took a job in Australia in 2008. Who would have dreamed it would become my lifeline? I kind of get the jitters and shakes when I don’t have the chance to blog. I am not saying that I write the best or have the most profound things to say but it has become a part of me. It has opened up a whole new world for me. I have not really engaged in our community where we now reside but instead have my bloggy friends. We joke about how I don’t have many friends there to call and go for coffee with or shopping or whatever but I have all of my “virtual” friends who are more real to me than anything else right now.
The blog has kind of taken on a life of its own. I started doing Comments for a Cause a couple months ago and that has opened up a whole new world for me. I am able to give to some causes through YOU my readers and it is an incredible thing. I love it. Am I obsessed about comments now? Kind of. But no insecurity here–just happiness that people have found me and want to comment. Woohoo!
Wow–this went on longer than I thought it would and I could still say a lot more but let’s save that for another day. Thanks for joining me on the ride. It has been a fun one and I think it will continue that way. 
