An effort to beat back stage fright....

For Fear of a blank page


This is it. I am really doing this.
Eighteen months ago I thought blogs were for those who lived in their parents’ basement at the age of 35, claimed World of War Craft as their number one social activity and were looking for a way to connect with other WW addicts. That or blogs were for insiders wanting to dish dirt on employers they hated. To be honest I was totally unaware of the internet beyond basic searching and email. I had a deep seated fear that amazon.com would steal my credit card info and that ebay was possibly run by Russian mobster’s intent on stealing my identity.

Then I got in a car accident, and was unable to walk much past the end of my bed without blacking out in pain. At the time of my accident I was 6 months pregnant and more then a little overwhelmed. We had sold our house, couldn’t find one to buy, I got in a car accident, was fired for being injured while pregnant (yes my boss actually said that) my husband lost his job and it was five weeks till Christmas. Not a good time for us.

One day I was trying to keep my mind busy enough to not contemplate what our situation really was and came across babycenter.ca. On that site there was a bulletin board of other women all expecting their babies around the same time I was. I wasn’t sure what a bulletin board was but I had enough time on my hands to find out. So I did. I became totally addicted. I was on that thing every opportunity I got. I referred to the women on there as my ladies and in conversations between my husband and me, they were making regular appearances. Those wonderful women I now consider my friends and they are my go to folks for advice and support for anything to do with my new role as mommy and as sounding boards for all the weird hormonal/emotional junk that comes along with that title.

A few months after my first introduction to the world of bulletin boards (wow I am a late bloomer) a friend of mine started her own blog. I was surprised. She was a ‘real’ person. She had a ‘real’ life. My world shifted. She told me she read a bunch of blogs from all sorts of people. I was intrigued.
I started looking for these things called blogs. I can now say I am converted to a full time blog consumer. I used to read magazines, now I read blogs. I read them everyday, many multiple times a day. I love being able to peek inside other peoples lives and minds. Now I see that the draw of blogging extends way past those basement dweller types, past mommyblogs, past dieting blogs, past political blogs.
It’s a new (to me) way of reaching out, of creating, of expression. It gives people space to explore what they think, what interests them, how they can fill up a page. It gives people a chance to focus on themselves and their experiences. And when done well, that exploration is always interesting to others. As an avid consumer of blogs I figured it was high time I got me one for myself. So here it is world, my blog.