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And so I ask you today: How much is too much?
How much do YOU tell about your story? Your child's story? Your journey? Where is your personal line? Is there a line? Does the line shift from time to time? And how do you balance what is your story to tell and what is the story of another party to your journey?
I ask you these questions with no definite answers of my own. I have struggled, off and on, with this subject (as it relates to adoption) for years. I have been guilty of over-sharing, of stepping on D's toes when it was part of her story to tell (re: before she was ready to talk about her divorce). I have also been guilty of under-sharing (yes, there is such a thing) because I didn't want to be honest about my own emotional issues at the time. I tend to default to talking solely about myself and my journey as of late, not wanting to cross any boundaries. I find it difficult but in a good-kind-of-challenging way to focus on myself when writing on my adoption blog.
So, yes, all of those questions are something that we as adoption bloggers/writers should be talking about. What are your lines for telling your story?
@FireMom from Stop, Drop and Blog and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land
I have almost entirely
Shannon LC Cate February 1, 2010 - 10:57amI have almost entirely stopped talking about my children's adoptions on my blog these days. Lately I feel less and less comfortable telling the stories of people without access to tell their own stories. That would include my kids and their first families. I am more likely to engage in theory-level discussions of adoption and traditional "mommy-blogging" about my own kids.
It's tough, because there's so much misinformation out there about adoption and personal stories are more likely to get an open ear than generic theoretical opinions. Yet, I can't throw my kids out there unless/until they choose to be out there representing for the adoption experience.
My own adoption story (part of the story) just isn't very exciting. It was my partner saying "want to adopt a baby?" and me saying "that could be cool!" and then we did. Not much there to tell, really. Now, ethics, politics, spirituality and adoption--I may have loads to say about that. But I thinklately I'm suffering adoption fatigue. I'm just tired of spitting against the hurricane of misinformation and misunderstanding and benighted, well-intentioned mistakes, you know? I'll probably get back to it one of these days. But not today. Too much laundry.
"All that you have is your soul." Tracy Chapman