Intro: Always Something to Talk About

Linda

Women sharing with women.

When I was growing up as a young mom I didn’t live close to my mother.  In those days we thought twice before making long distance phone calls. It was like visiting a foreign land when I left the familiarity of my maternal home and realized I was expected to build “our” home with my husband who had no more knowledge about this process than I did. I found navigating the waters of ‘new motherhood’ difficult and lonely.  I was pretty certain I was the only one with a baby that couldn’t be consoled.  I was positive no one else could possibly be as tired as I was.  How did other mothers fit everything that had to be done into 24 hours?

I turned to several of the women’s magazines that were available in the 70’s and 80’s. As a stay at home mom with two boys only fifteen months apart my days were busy, tiring and often housebound.  Through those magazines I didn’t feel so alone or left out on what was happening in the world and in other mother’s lives.  I came to realize other women were experiencing what I was and were actually winning the battle of tears, dirty diapers and exhaustion.  Those magazines were a treasure chest of articles that addressed all types of topics of interest to me- how to mother, how to clean and organize my home, how to cook and how to do so many things that made my life easier and more enjoyable.  I still have some of those articles in my files today and many of the ideas and advice are still sound.

We have a two part goal with this blog. One goal is to do what those magazines did for me thirty years ago: to help other women connect with each other and share life’s experiences so that we may all grow, develop and become the very best we can become.

To address the second goal I must first tell you that I recognize that I am truly a blessed woman.  I have five sons and one daughter.  I love the world of boys and adore these men of mine.  But when I had my daughter, she opened a whole new world to me that has allowed me to enjoy my femininity as well as develop my female side more fully.  Through sons I now have three more daughters that have added so much to my life.  I realize how blessed I am when I talk to friends, and other mothers-in-law that don’t have what I have.  I believe I have the most perfect daughters-in-laws that have ever walked this earth. How I have been so lucky? I don’t know, unless it might account for the fact that I have some pretty awesome sons who know how to pick them right.

So the second goal here is to have a place where women in whatever roles they are currently playing (and we usually play more than one at a time) can come to see how mothers and daughters can share ideas.  This isn’t a place for “out with the old and in with the new.”  You see, I am the ‘old’ and I plan on being around for a while.  I think I still have much to give to this generation but I am not afraid of the ‘new’ that my girls have to offer. I learn from them all the time.

I am pretty certain I would have travelled the path of motherhood more easily and enjoyably if I had these girls as contemporaries. If I could have hung out with them, had them as neighbors or talked to them in the park I believe I could have tossed those magazines.  As you get to know them, you will see what I mean.

Tagged as: family life, family relationships, parenthood