Writing and Relating

My Mom, gotta love her, will occasionally forward me an article or two from another random mommy blogging site. I like reading these for various reasons. The two most important being that I am always interested in other moms writing styles and second, I can totally and completely relate. Often times I find myself living the exact life this person is describing in their blog, like play by play to the tee. It's surreal.

I just finished reading one particular article where the mom was describing how difficult it was to find time to write and deal with the household and children and general daily chores. She had given up her original plan of writing only at night after the kids had gone to bed. There was just no true end to her day to find time for herself. At least not without passing out on the desk and short circuiting the keys with her drool. She continued her post with interjections of countless disruptions and specifics on the whereabouts and actions of her kids. She relayed the unending requests that they had - about everything. It was all typed out like one crazy insane play. One that only a mom could truly understand. At the close of the article she even gave an exact tally of how many interruptions, requests, tantrums and melt-downs she had dealt with during the writing of her article (whose main subject had become lost on all of us, including her!). Kudos to her for even counting. I think if I knew the total number of times I said "No!", defused a tantrum, broke up a fight or poured a cup of juice in one day I might check myself into the looney bin.

I found comfort in her writing. Just as I find comfort when I hear one of my friends say "And here I thought it was just me!" during one of our "comparison of child-rearing" discussions. We relate. After all ladies, we're in this for the long haul... and from what I've heard, although the dynamics with our children will change - from diapers to boyfriends, driving to forgotten curfews, and then forming families of their own - it never truly ends. Not that we want it to. I guess we all just need an outlet like writing or exercise or reading or endless bottles of wine to release a bit of the worry and stress it creates. For me, it's blogging and finding the humor in my everyday battles that gets me through. Hopefully, whatever your vice, just like me you can totally and completely relate.