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Sparkle (5)
We all know that being a mother changes you and your life forever: Our hearts get bigger, our fears get bigger, and we feel connected to the eternal. We experience life with a new sense of poignancy and vulnerability, knowing that every moment we live takes our babies further away from us, bit by bit.
But I think it’s also true that being a mother really doesn’t change you all that much. Somewhere underneath all that meal-making and scraped-knee kissing we do, we are still the same 14-, 23- or 37-year-old we’ve always been, trying to find our way and our place in life, to become who we really are, the concentrated orange-juice version of ourselves: rich, potent, bright, and more satisfying.
I really believe that's why we all started writing our stories and sharing them online. Blogging and reading helps us find our way back to our original voices and connects us with women who will witness our journey, laugh at our jokes, hear our laments, hold our hands and help us reconnect with the part of us that exists for us alone, the core inside that fuels our growth, and enriches our souls.
Do you know where that side of you is? The side of you that has new dreams for yourself, goals separate from raising good children with good hearts? The part that has hobbies and interests and passions? That part of You that exists solely for you? Have you talked to her lately, or is she tucked away behind the endless tasks and duties of motherhood?
This is where you find her, right? When you sit down at your keyboard to write your own story, or browse until you’re captured by someone else’s words.
That’s what BlogHer was launched six years ago to embrace and celebrate: all those voices speaking their unfolding stories out loud. And BlogHerMoms is being created to capture and highlight some of the voices that have spoken the loudest on the Internet: the thousands of mothers, from all walks of life and backgrounds, with wildly different life stories and birth stories and goals and dreams, that have reshaped the national conversation about women -— and will eventually change the shape of businesses, government and the world, as we continue to speak the truths of our lives for all to hear.
What's most amazing to see is the way we can be comforted by diversity of our stories -— the reminder that there is no one way to do things “right,” relieving us of the constant fear of doing things “wrong” —- and then united by all that we share. The world gets bigger and more varied and yet smaller and more friendly at the same time. This is an amazing trick. If that sounds like a zen riddle, I urge you to read anymommyoutthere’s brilliant and wise Voices of the Year post where she reminds us that, in the end, all we all can do is do the best we can. And that we should applaud all moms, whether they are like us or not, for reaching our own bests.
I want BlogHerMoms to be the place for the applause. I want BlogHerMoms to connect us with the most memorable stories about the searing, fulfilling, hilarious, humbling, awkward, magical, heartbreaking, and lovely moments that make up life as a mom: your stories.
These stories can remind me to dig deep, live some more, and then share the laughter and the wisdom I find with others, as we all take this amazing journey of motherhood, apart and together. How about you?
