grat·i·tude
Whenever I go to post something on The Internet that discusses heavier things, I confess, Pranksters, that I am afraid. Of what, I don’t really know. What are you going to do? CALL MY MOM and tell her that you hate me? I’m sure she’d roll her eyes because that’s my mom for you.
On the same token, yesterday, even though that post had been published twice in other places, I was as nervous as a cat to post it again. According to the handy chart of characteristics that I found (opens into a PDF if you click it), apparently we adult children of alcoholics are afraid of our feelings. Tell me something I DON’T know, right?
Anyway. As per usual, I could have better spent that energy rearranging my underwear drawer or bleaching out my garbage cans because you were wonderful and for that I am grateful. In fact, I’m always grateful for you, my Pranksters.
Whether it’s a condescending article (s) in the newspaper or some blurb on the national news, for some reason the blogging community is still seen as a pathetic little coffee club. How DARE we get mad when someone bashes us in the paper? We’re just silly little women/men/ people who should get our silly butts back to tending our children and off the computer! Our children are practically raising themselves while we selfishly DO NOT LIVE FOR THEM.
How DARE we have a drink or a life? WE’RE PARENTS, NOT PEOPLE! How DARE we talk about our FEELINGS in PUBLIC where some day our KIDS might see them!!1!! ZOMG ZOMG ZOMG! Let’s go back to a life of repression, y’all.
Some day, my children are going to read my blog and know that some days, I wanted to strangle myself because they behaved so horrifically. Some day, my children will know that I am a human being. I hope that they take comfort in that, rather than grow up in a repressed, sad home. Sure, they’ll hate me for plenty of things, my blog included (also included, my singing, my hairstyle, and my morning breath).
I never claimed to give up my life when I popped my first crotch parasite out and I’m not starting now.
Some day, someone will look back on blogging and see that we were building a community. Because like it or not, you, my Pranksters, are my friends. Some of you I haven’t met, some of you I do know pretty well, some of you are my FB BFF and some of you I would be lost without.
All of you, I cherish. I do.
I’m proud to know all of you and whenever I talk about you to The Daver or whomever ear I have selfishly stolen, I am always filled with happiness that I know so many amazing, diverse people. It’s not about subscriber numbers or Twitter feeds, it’s about people. YOU. I’m happy I know you. All of you. Thank you for being my friend.
So for those of you who do blog, and those of you who want to blog, I’m here to encourage you to do it. Ignore the critics and the naysayers and those who dismiss your “stupid little habit.” Write even if no one reads your blog. Write LIKE no one reads your blog. Write for yourself, and write authentically.
Write hard, Pranksters, write hard.
And know that no matter what, Your Aunt Becky loves you. Hard.
Love ya too! 🙂
I’d rather be honest with my son and let him know that sometimes, parenting is just hard. That’s life. We’re human. So are they. And when he grows up and has kids, I hope that he can look back and say, “Gee, now I know what she was talking about.”
We don’t stop being individuals because we become parents. Someday our kids will look back and be glad, because hopefully, we’ve set a good example for them to follow. Blogging, writing, is part of that individuality for so, so many of us.
I believe that once our kids have kids, they will thank god for our honesty, because they won’t feel crazy for how they are thinking and feeling once their kids drive them bat-shit insane.
“Write hard, Pranksters, write hard.”
Fist pumping ensues.
If we worried more about what our hearts and minds were telling us and less about the asshat critics, who, quite frankly, are jealous that we are able to blog and write about whatever the fuck we want, we would be much happier. Who the hell cares about what some repressed NYT writer thinks about bloggers? Clearly, they need a night out at the strippers, having a g-string wrapped around their head and a flavored condom stuffed in their back pocket.
Bloggers of the world tell it like it really is and accept that somedays, you just feel shitty, don’t want to parent, work, live or eat. Good for you Aunt Becky in blogging through the shit, no good, worthless opinions of some people who clearly NEED TO GET A LIFE…just like the life you are living.
Cheers! *Raises glass in solidarity*
It’s not about subscriber numbers or Twitter feeds? Not even a little bit? Not even the teensiest, eensiest, smidgeon of a bit?
It’s lonely being this shallow.
I’m in the shallow end with you, because I do love it when those follower numbers go up!
We love our Aunt Becky too. It’s why your posts are always one of the first ones I click on in my reader whenever a new one pops up. Way to grab what’s yours and claim it! It’s very admirable.
What a great post! I have to admit I feel so guilty for my blogging ways when I am home with my daughters and they are watching Barney while I am getting a post up. I like to say it is my work. I feel that way about it, it is a dream job…minus the income streaming in.
Thanks for sharing this and I really feel like I need to spend some more time reading your stuff!
Write well. Write now.
(My personal credo)
And also, you totally Rock! Life lived out loud is best documented by someone with practice at both. 🙂
**Stands up out of chair, shouts AMEN SISTER, Applause, Applause, and of course, Wolf Whistles**
THAT’S how I feel about this post.
Love you long and hard right back!
Just Perfect!! Cheers Aunt Becky!!
I absolutely believe that blogging builds community, and translates into literal community building.
We are supporting each other as parents and people, providing levity and hope, making people laugh and lighten up for a second, and providing access to real support and services of all kinds.
My new mission is to educate people on the gross oversimplification in the assumption of “mommy bloggers” and blogging in general.
Of course there is a narcissistic component to blogging, as with most artisitic/creative expression–and at the same time blogging can serve a greater purpose–can help build strong community.
You tell him Aunt Becky-
Because we all need to hear it once in awhile!
I love this post so much it literally brings tears to my eyes. SO WELL SAID. I often worry that my honesty is going to come back to bite me in the ass. And it still might. But frankly I could use a chunk of my ass bitten off, Lord knows I have enough of it to go around. So I keep blogging. Thank you for your words of encouragement. And your courage.
Thanks for the post. A friend of mine introduced me to your blog and I’ve been hooked ever since. I started my own blog a couple months ago. 🙂
Someone told me that having haters means you’ve arrived as a blogger, so, I guess having haters in the NYT means we’ve arrived as a community, yes?
Thanks for linking to that pdf. I grew up around alcoholics and well. That’s kind of an eye opener.
Thanks for the psych-up. Reading some of your blogs has encouraged me to get on board (not just to start writing in public, but also because it was a relief to find out there are women out there who think like I do… i.e. in not work safe ways, lol). I came across ‘Toy with me’ looking at sample thesis themes for my upcoming blog.
Sometimes I am terrified by the prospect that no-one will ever read my stuff… but then flip to being just as terrified that they will…(there was a scene in the movie Paradise-Melanie Griffith/Don Johnston-where Elijah Wood-a little kid at the time-teeters around the edge of a really tall structure and Melanie Griffiths gets him down and then asks why on earth he did that and he says because he was tired of being scared all the time. Blogging will be me teetering around the edge… I am soooo tired of worrying about what other people think of me… what I should think or not think, whether I should be more “serious” and stop cracking jokes, whether I should be more professional… blah blah blah….
Oh, and good point Aunt Becky about your kids understanding you are a real person… What I wouldn’t give to be able to really see the *real* insides of the people who are my family… (both my grandmothers are gone now but I so know their blogs would have fucking rocked…) Your kids will KNOW you. The real you.
*wipes tear away, and goes back to not finding a real job and trying to figure out how to use photoshop, oh and then goes out to return several blouses that in hindsight make me look pregnant*
Guess I need my own blog… taking up too much room in other people’s…. bwahahahahahahah
You rock, Aunt Becky!
Until someone comes to me specifically to tell me I suck, I can’t be bothered with silly feature stories in newspapers that are usually slanted. And, even if they come and tell me I suck, I look for their ulterior motive. I’m not in school anymore; I don’t get graded on anyone’s scale but my own. (Not that I’m a mommy-blogger. The husband pretty much puts any discussion of family members OFF LIMITS)
Whoever coined the term mommy blogger has a lot to answer for – it invites the condescension and the patronising attitude. That said personally I am not so wild about the endless emphasis on brand building also criticised recently. Fine for some just not for me.
Loving you too!
Oh Em Gee…..crotch parasite?!?!? I nearly peed my pants….that’s HI-larious.
Love ya too Aunt Becky 🙂
love you hard core with many reps! excellent advice.
Amen.
And like, the national news is so deep and thought-provoking. Like I live for tidbits about Tiger Woods’s woody and the righteous opinions of all those hypocrites who are analyzing his poor choices … while cheating on their wives/husbands. Oh, and I can’t get enough of Chaz Bono’s transgender journey b/c I like to go to sleep at night while wondering about if s/he has a penis. Talk about “scraping the bottom” (pun intended). Get real.
Aunt Becky kicks their boring, hypocritical, unauthentic (is that a word?) asses.
Wow, thanks so much for sharing! As a fellow emotion stuffer, it’s nice to see someone actually talking about it.
Thank you Aunt Becky!! That was just what I needed to read.
~ Sharing the Love from Arizona ~
Love you back, Aunt Becky!!
I sometimes feel crazy when I share that “Aunt Becky did this today… and so and so commented on me…” with Army Boy and my family, but it’s wonderful to know that everyone who does this GETS IT. It’s not a group of imaginary friends, it’s people reaching out to each other and supporting and understanding each other.
Your comment on one of my first posts lit a fire under my butt and I’ve been going ever since. THANK YOU. 🙂
you can step forward to accept your award of awesomeness….well, another award of awesomeness to add to your collection.
This is my favorite paragraph from this post:
“So for those of you who do blog, and those of you who want to blog, I’m here to encourage you to do it. Ignore the critics and the naysayers and those who dismiss your “stupid little habit.” Write even if no one reads your blog. Write LIKE no one reads your blog. Write for yourself, and write authentically.”
It is so true. My family hasn’t been supportive of my blog and it makes me so angry but I keep writing anyways. They can get over it!
http://www.monkeetrouble7.wordpress.com
We love you too Aunt Becky. This post was full of The Awesome. You said it all. Thanks.
What I want to know is who was talkin shit about you that made you write this … ? Arseholes!
I think the best part about blogging is that you can write wheatever the heck you feel like. If people don’t want to read it, they don’t have to. What I hate are the asshats who feel they have to leave word, usually signed ‘anon’, and try to rip you to shreds for writing what you felt. They can suck it.
Keep on writing Becky, you’re kids, like I always say to mine, can work it out in therapy later. Only the best people do:)
xxoo
Dude — and I say this in the most non-oogie, respectful, brother-hug way: I want to have your baby.
Also, “Write Hard.” I swear, you are an endless fount of t-shirt ideas.
Right back atcha, sister.
We’re all trying to hold on to our REAL selves. The person that our kids don’t see, the one that our husbands get an occasional glimpse of. Trying to make sense of our past and our present, in order to know and understand ourselves better. In my case, it also involves my latest obsession “Ritz Vegetable Crackers” with a plate of cheese. They taste awesome and make me feel sophisticated, even when I realize that I’ve forgotten to brush my teeth. With you, it involves Uncrustables.
I haven’t posted to my blog since Feb. 26th. Thanks for your encouragement, Aunt Becky. We’re in this together.
Thank YOU for this post, and your previous one. I’m new to lurking, er I mean reading your blog, and love it. 🙂
I’ve got a bit of experience with alcohol and alcoholic loved ones myself. It’s really nice to find someone brave enough to write about it.
I’m waiting until my family gets bored reading my blog and then I’ll post juicier stuff! LOL
I love your blog and this post especially. I write for myself and I truly don’t give a flying fuck what people think about me or my “blogging” habits (or any of my other habits for that matter). Someone is always going to have something to bitch about. That’s just the way it is. I wish it were different, but I’ve learned some of my biggest lessons from people who have attacked me.
Keep it up Aunt Becky! I luvs your blog!
Totally agree! I started blogging in January, and I yell at my husband way less! If that’s the only thing that comes of it, is that not enough?
x
P
http://www.adhocmom.com
Thank you Aunt Becky!! Just for being you…
Thank you for this. You have no idea what good timing you have. I was just thinking of quitting my blog. Not enough people read it, it probably isn’t any good, my book will never get published, etc. So now I will persevere, writing to maybe possibly help a person I’ve never even met.
I too have alcoholism on both sides of my family. When I was in rehab, one of the counselors told me my parents should have started me a “rehab fund” instead of a college fund, since the chances are so great that I’d become an alcoholic. It sucks. Try like hell to never let the disease get you.
Thanks again.
And that is why you are loved. Hard.
Ohh, Me and obviously we luvs you long time too. Hard. Wait, that sounded perverted. But I like perverted so no matter.
Cyberhugs all around.
I love your posts. All of them. Because I can relate to a lot of them. Your kids will love you for being you, even though you might have written about them on your blog. Keep it up, you’re full of the awesome!
I have noticed that it is really difficult to be the first one to comment on this blog – Why you ask? Because we all wait anxiously for the latest edict from on high to erupt from the head of Becky.
Who gives a flying fuck what the NY Times or any other high falutin paper writes about bloggers, mommies or otherwise!
I want to read about crotch parasites, temporary insanity, dying your cooch colours. These things are important!
And if you want to write about your feelings, that is okay too.
Love ya bunches!
I only came to this blog fairly recently. When I read your post yesterday, you became not just a blog I read but a very real person. And that’s always a good thing.
I don’t know how I feel about another man’s wife writing to me with so much use of the word “hard”.
“Write even if no one reads your blog. Write LIKE no one reads your blog. Write for yourself, and write authentically.”
Listen to your Aunt Becky. This is the best advice for new and older bloggers alike.
Good post AB
The thing is, I have never in my life been introduced as a “Mommy Advertising and Marketing Executive” so why in the hell would I need to be classified as a “Mommy Blogger”?
Oh, wait……I’m not sure anyone would put me in that group anyway…….ummmm, nevermind…. 😉 but I like the keep writing and write hard advice…….run with it, run far and don’t stop……
Awww Aunt Becky We love you too!! You are always an inspiration, even when you’re writing about vagina.
I do have to admit that I had been kicking around an idea about writing a blog about movies (truly original I know…) It was because of you Aunt Becky that I finally decided to jump into the waters of blogging.
Aww shucks, we love you too. Mwah!
Awwww, Aunt Becky, we love you too.
I just read the “ACoA” pamphlet. I don’t have any words. Really… there aren’t any, maybe… It never dawned on me that I wasn’t alone. Thanks for all that great info.
There is a power behind our words, something that women have not had in… well, a long, long time. I am specifically referring to the “mommy bloggers,” but really, the dads are there, too… just marginalized in a different way (sometimes, even by us). Its the “mom wave” feminist movement, really, and I encourage each and every mother out there to blog, to post on forums (that was totally self-serving, but whatever) and to make your voice heard outside of your four walls.
With all of the focus on children, all of the blame on parents, all of the crap that makes headlines solely to make us all feel like crap, its amazing that anyone even bothers to breed. I want my kids to see that while they are a huge focus and influence on my life, I am still a person and one day, they might want to know who I was. In theory.
While there are historical points I could bring up (but, that’s too close to doing homework with my kids when I could be blogging), I just want to point out that if mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy. Yo.
Hey, even though we’re not even FB BFFs and I mostly lurk and I’m not blogging much lately, I love you, too. Great post. You rock. Illegitimi non carborundum. (And don’t worry, I’m writing, it’s just not public. Yet.)
The proof that we are building communities is that the comments are important to read. I find that I end up letting blogs slide when there are no comments at all — meaning they are always turned off. I guess I crave the dialogue.
(Notice how I said “we” when my blog is virtually abandoned.)
[head smacking] Doh!
[/head smacking]
Hey! You made it into the NY Times!!! It doesn’t matter that it was because of some ignorant person’s opinion of your blog in which they clearly don’t even follow!
So thanks to you and one little line you wrote -thank you for being a friend- I have the Golden Girls theme song stuck in my head. THANK YOU.
What? Aunt Becky is human? Aunt Becky has Morning Breath? Say it ain’t so!!! I love my Auntie so much and wouldn’t read your blog if I didn’t think you were Awesome. You rock.
Woohhooo Aunt Becky (claps and whistles). I’m cheering you on because that was an amazing speech! I swear, I heard your voice in my ears and saw you at the podium.
Very well said! I personally don’t bother feeling guilty about doing something for myself, no matter what the naysayers thing (though sometimes I do feel guilty for not feeling guilty). But not everyone manages to be as self centered as me.
The thing about the Paper & the internet – so many people can be rude & obnoxious without fear of being punched in the face. Whoever comes up with a way to zap the obnoxious with an electrical jolt over the internet will be a millionaire in days
I love feedback and comments and all of that. I do. But, I swear to you, if I did not process my thoughts daily in writing, I would be weeping in the corner instead.
What a G R E A T post. You said it all. Especially the last line.
“Write for yourself, and write authentically.”
I so believe that starting my blog is what has truly helped me with my out of control anxiety issues about my health.
and
allowed me to make some new and very supportive friends.
“I never claimed to give up my life when I popped my first crotch parasite out and I’m not starting now.”
Oh. my. GAWD! I read this and almost peed my pants (which isn’t hard to do nowadays). I’m 31 and preg. w/ my first and FREAKED the hell out. I have been stumbling upon a few blogs here and there and while some are barely tolerable most are awfully haughty (imo) blogs like yours make the hunt for great sarcasm worth it. It makes me feel like less of a freak b/c I am dying for sushi and a drink and not ridding my home of “non-green” items. Thank you for sharing your life and OBTW I found you from reading Harper’s Happenings. :o)
50 dolla GI…me love you long time.
Please tell me you recognize the mangle Full Metal Jacket quote.
Grrrr…that should say mangled
Damn straight woman! Thank you for this. So many people (most really) don’t get it, this whole blogging thing.You said it perfectly.
And you said “hard” a lot, which I really liked.
::Blows nose between sobs:: I love you too, man!
In all seriousness, I read your blog because I relate to you in many ways. I’ve been through shit, too, though not to the extent you have, and I find your attitude comforting. You don’t pretend to be unphased by the difficult times in your life, but serve as an example of picking yourself up, dusting yourself off, and getting back on the horse. Not to mention, you make it all amusing, even in times of seriousness. Thank you for having the courage to blog about the things I’m not ready to let out.
Thank you for the encouragement.
“It was the lie at the center of everything, the great lie we all supported, tended, and worshiped as if our lives depended upon it, as if, should one person ever speak honestly, the world would crack open and send us all tumbling into a flaming pit.”
~Manon Gaudet (Property, by Valerie Martin)
This quote literally stopped me in my tracks when I read it. I re-read it about 5 times, just so it would sink in.
Your blog speaks honestly and I hope your post encourages bloggers to hang in there and stay true to their words. Life’s too short to fall for the BS.
Keep it up! And I’ll be right there with ya in the flaming pit…margarita in hand!
A whopping hunk of HALLELUIAH!! And isn’t that the greatest goal of parenthood? That our kids will one day know and respect us as PEOPLE and not just the Jailor.
Dig you huge.
I think the one of the biggest mistakes a parent can make is not letting his/her child see them mess up. I started writing online for myself, because it was easier to keep up with (and also easier to search when I wanted to throw something in Kent’s face, haha) and that’s still why I write online. I *want* my kids to read my blog someday so they can see that yeah, I screwed up, but I really did always try my best. I have gotten a few nasty emails (not many since I’m not superfantastic like you – that is NOT sarcasm, by the way, you ARE superfantastic) but for the most part I’ve found great friends on here. Screw the rest of the world, the ones who “just don’t understand” blogging, because they are missing out.
Love you & I think you are all kinds of brave for posting the things that you write about. I never know what to say in response but you should know that I think you are AMAZING and I feel completely lucky to know you, in any capacity. xoxo
I love you so hard, deary. My ears are always yours.
Please don’t call my mom as she does not know about Sex and the Single Dad. Neither does my self righteous little brother. One day (when this becomes a world-wide craze, a best selling book and a Hollywood blockbuster) they will find out, but by then I will have way too much money to care one way or the other….
When you become a parent you don’t stop being a person, you just become a person that has 1 more side to them. My mother has told me (and doesn’t let me forget it) that between the ages of about 12 and 18-19, I was a pain in her ass and she pretty much could have lived with herself if she had given me away to another family. Even if she blogged it, I wouldn’t care, I know what a brat I could be. IMO the fact that people are so up in arms and say “but…but…our children will one day read this” is a bunch of bull. Once they get to the age they can read and fully understand why their parent said “Sometimes I wish I could ship my kid off to India”; they are of the age where they can realize they were being a pain in the ass. Then they’ll grow up and say hey yea my mom’s a person and not just a mom and hearing her swear, have a shot of vodka or even talk about sex in a funny way is no longer like seeing your english teacher buying underwear at Meijer durning summer break. You go right on blogging Aunt Becky about what ever you want to blog about. After all it’s your blog and if you wanted to write about paper towel, you can and I am sure it will be as funny and wonderful as all your others are.
Sometimes I feel like you are my neighbor. Sometimes I wish you were in reality actually my neighbor. Regardless, I’m happy to know you in the small way that I do. 🙂
OH, AUNT BECKY! *wipes tear away from corner of eye* I lurve, lurve, lurve you too!
As for the newspapers, they are terrified because readership is down so much due to the internet. Panic born of rejection, is my guess. Don’t pay any attention to the haters! Just know that all your merry lil pranksters are out here rallying around one another and YOU!
I do worry sometimes that my children will find what I write but you know what? I’m teaching that people should be more forgiving and less self serving. That everyone can and does make mistakes.
That it’s okay to be just yourself.
Oh, and I guess I should also get one of those vintage recordings of “Free to be you and me”..*giggle*
I hear you Aunt Becky! I’m still trying to get my sad little blog going, LOL.
Errrmmmm, that should have said I HEART you.
I’ve never left a comment here before, but I just had to say something this time. Is it okay if I call you Aunt Becky even though I’m more than old enough to be your mother? In fact, I have a daughter exactly your age.
When I was raising my daughter there was no such thing as blogging so there is no written word she can look back on to see what I was thinking through the years. I said and did things at times that were certainly not recommended in the parenting books. But in spite of my mistakes and weaknesses, or maybe because of them, she loves me to death. I can actually say I’m glad I wasn’t a “supermom” because that’s a pretty intimidating thing to try to live up to. I wish I had known this when she was small so that I wouldn’t have put so much pressure on myself and agonized over every misstep.
Oh, and for what it’s worth, I’m the daughter of an alcoholic father and bi-polar mother. I’m now 61 years old and I didn’t end up with either condition, so it’s certainly not destiny to end up with all the bad genes and none of the good.
Aunt Becky said to write… so I must write…. Note to self, after cleaning poopy diapers and making dinner and taking kids out to play, write something good and hard!
But seriously, whoever the blowhole is who felt like bashing mommy-bloggers clearly hasn’t actually READ your stuff. WTF-ever. I’m not all kinds of offended. I blog just for fun anyway. Once in a great while, okay, only once ever, I won something free because I entered a contest and got extra entries for posting a button or something on my blog. I think blogging is good for the soul. Are there folks who get carried away? I’m sure. Are they out there writing articles about the moms who watch too many soap operas or clean obsessive-compulsively? Maybe, I don’t read their crap anyway, they aren’t nearly as fun or interesting as Aunt Becky. We ALL love you right back AB, and HARD!!!!
I bet you are referring to that article. That lady was wacked and perhaps a little jealous?
People are so petty and judgemental. Well, back to the bon bons – I am a SAHM after all…
Bravo! 🙂
Oh mate thank you SO MUCH for writing this post. Especially about the whole “writing about our feelings” on the internet thing, what with our kids being able to find our blogs one day. Because I have started to wonder and worry a bit about that … should I tone down? What will they think?? But fuck me if you did not just nail it beautifully ….. and fuck repression.
I motherfucking love you Aunt Becky, and am coming to BlogHer. And I can hopefully get to say hello to you in person!!! WOOT.
XOX
Dear Aunt Becky,
Here I was, all excited that you were bringing your drugged out, hyperactive self to ALL OUR HOUSES to clean the HELL out of them, and instead, here you are, telling us how much you love us. *sigh*
The truth is, of course, as many people have already eloquently said, we love you, too. We love you for saying what you think and encouraging us to say what we think, too. No matter who’s listening, and no matter who’s critiquing. Kick ass job.
Love,
Angie at Eat Here
PS I am leaving the Windex on the kitchen counter for you. XXOO
I say, better a mom who writes than a mom who forgot how. So, amen to you.
We love you Aunt Becky!
Amen, honey. Amen.
Awesome! Just plain awesome. And btw, no one does read my blog, but I write hard anyway!
to the critics who think we ought to be raising our kids instead of writing dumb blogs – i say it takes a village to raise a kid, and in this day and age, teh intarwebs is my village. so there, nyah
Aunt Becky, I read your blog every day, and it’s made me laugh, cry, and everything in between. I haven’t commented here before, but today I wanted to say thank you for the entertainment, insights, and for making me think. Your blog is one of very few that is both funny AND original. I’m looking forward to the book. xox
Love you Becks, and I actually love when you write in a “serious” tone….those are my favorite posts of yours. I have the same trouble though, I know everybody loves funny Kisha, but I’m so damn insecure about the Real Kisha that it’s hard to let it out…on my own damn blog. But my parents are both alcoholics as well, and despite my own substance abuse issues in the past, I’m proud to say that right now I’m clean, sober, mentally healthy, strong, and happy. Feels good.
You rock. That is all.
Thank you Aunt Becky! I too am an avid follower, who has been threatening to write a blog for so long. Not that I am funny, or interesting to most people, but it is important to write for me. Just in case the Alzheimers kicks in early! So I have just created my blog and I WILL write in it daily!
But you are an inspiration to many, and who cares about what other people think, they are just jealous that they don’t get stalked by so many people!
I am constantly inspired by you and your posts…thank you!
Oh my! I wonder what my daughter would think if I called her a crotch parasite? Regardless – it made me laugh! Your children will love you more for being authentic. It will teach them to do the same. Write, write, write!
What timing on this post, I was recently told I was too old to hang with the mommybloggers…which totally pissed me off…so what, my boys are grown, does that mean I know zilch about raising kids? The nerve! Anyway, its inspiring me to start my own blog for moms in their fifties…yep, we still live, breathe, laugh, cry, swear, drink,cook and we are not dead yet. I don’t know…since I can’t be called a “mommyblogger”…hmm…waddya think…what should I call myself other than pissed?
And I love you hard right back.
“’Make a remark,’ said the Red Queen; ‘it’s ridiculous to leave all the conversation to the pudding!’”
Well Said, Aunt Becky!!!! Carry On!
Aunt Becky,
thanks for the encouragement! I’m trying to start a blog and I found lots of inspiration from looking at yours. Thanks for entertaining us with your blog! 🙂
Sometimes I just want to snuggle you, Aunt Becky. Beautiful. 🙂
Wow – thanks!!
Oh, Aunt Becky, you made my heart warm. I too love you and it is bloggers like you that inspire me to stick with it through the lack of comments and everone else’s eye rolling when they here about my blog. I really love the writing aspect and feel like it is keeping my brain functional while I stay home with 2 littles that have no way of communicating intelligently yet. All of the critics should just blow us (figurativley of course, have you seen some of these people). My dudes are happy and healthy and they do not need me to play with them for 8 hours a day (I dedicate at least 5 minutes for that). Last I remember we were raising humans not little warts attached to our asses.
Amen, Becky. Amen. I’m very happy I know you, too.
Haters will hate. Why they choose to hate on the blogging community I’ll never understand. We’re just regular old gals and guys trying to survive.
And who wants to surive all alone?
PS Thanks for the follow!
Whomever would choose to bash you or others like you should seriously suck a fat one. Writing is cathartic, whether it be in the form of a book, a journal, a note thrown into the fire or, God Forbid, a blog that, JESUS HELP ME, people all over can read! Kudos to you for not being afraid to be you and let it all hang out. I dare say that if more people were like you, there would be less depression, less comparisons, less “keeping up with the Jones’,” if you will.
I visit TPW and dooce on a regular basis as well, and while I love PDub, I honestly don’t get how everything comes up roses all the time. I never hear of a disagreement with a husband, troublesome kids, shitty days…instead, it’s “I chopped down a forest today, cut 20,000 pair of calf nuts off, cooked an 8 course dinner, homeschooled my four beautiful children, maintained my blog, took thousands of pictures all whilst staring at my husbands adorable chaps laden behind.” AND I LOVE HER, don’t get me wrong, but many days it makes me feel unfulfilled. I think, damn, I haven’t even showered, OR made dinner OR done anything productive today, I’m a looser. Then I visit your site and it reminds me that in the real world, these lives, the lives of the PDubs of the world, they don’t really exist. Surely there HAS to be some crap in there somewhere, and guess what? People identify with crap, with discord, with trials and tribulations, and crappy days with your kids, and crappy days with your husbands/significant others. So my dearest Aunt Becky, keep on doing what you always do, and stay strong, because you are simply magnificent.
Love ya, Becky. 🙂
xo
You are awesome! You inspired me with Brining Aunt Becky Back, and I joined a writing group which lead to a women’s writng group. When I told the women’s group I blog, one lady (use the term loosely) snickered. When I told her that I met lots of interesting and supportive people from blogging, she snorted. Then when I told her I love to have the feeling of completing a task and getting feedback (because as SAHM, I feel nothing is done), she snickered even louder. Then she made some stupid comment how her novel wasn’t going to be appreciated by the Sesame Street Generation because they don’t have long attention spans.
Usually stuff like that bothers me, but not this time. I am a proud blogger. I found something in this world that makes me happy and breathe deeper. I am a better person because of it, which in turn makes me a better mom.
So yeah, I’ll write hard . . .
Thanks again for your awesomness.
Love you, too, Becks. Hard. Thanks for being an inspiration to many and a friend to many more. Especially me. (It’s the allergies, dammit!!)
Love this, you’re awesome!
Sadie at heyMamas
This is great! And thanks for all the great inspiration!
We love you too becks- can I call you becks? Good cause I like it!
Do people really bleach out their garbage cans?!
Anyway, speaking for me…I love you because you are authentic. This proves is big time. Love you right back….
I’m a sometimes blogger who’s only been trying for a while. But that being said, the comments I get are sometimes the best thing anyone says to me that day. It means the world to me to know that someone, somewhere, cares about what I have to say and thinks it’s important enough to devote a few seconds of thought to it.
And I love getting to see what all these other great people have to say, you included.
thanks for the awesomeness.
HA! “…apparently we adult children of alcoholics are afraid of our feelings.” It’s called a year in therapy and I still can’t identify feelings when I have them. Strangely enough, when I first read your blog, I DID know that I would love you. Hard. And I do.
A very late post-vacation reply, but love you and all or your AWESOME right back. Thanks for the encouragement to us little peeps in bloggerland.
I hate when I don’t proofread before hitting post. “all OF your” Ack.