Why Do I Blog?

One of my favorite blogging friends and professional associates wrote a post about why she blogs. (And I'm so glad she does as she's a fabulous writer and her post are full of wit, sarcasm, introspect, honesty and funny antidotes. I feel like a young child who squeals with glee and claps her hands together when I see she's posted!) And it got me to think, why do I blog? Why do I put out "there" our personal stories and show the world my ineptness with regards to grammar, sentence structure and parenting skills? I've been pondering about this all day.
I originally started blogging long before our adoption experience as a form of electronic scrap booking and low and behold it became more like a journal of our life. Many, many times previous in my life I've sat down to "catch up" on my journal-usually out of guilt after attending a church meeting about record keeping.-and I would attempt to catch up in one page the last three or four years of our life, summarise major and minor events. I hate my handwriting, I'm a terrible speller and I write so much slower than I type and think. These entries are very far and few between and pathetic at best. I could write a word document. I realize that, I have written some entries that way but never for long periods of time. So blogging even if it's just a few minutes at a time has been the best form of journaling I've ever done. Yes, I do censor some of my thoughts, (I actually write them but do not publish them.) And I try to be sensitive to what my children and husband would be okay with being published across the "world wide web".
I know that sometimes my post sound like those terrible "bragging" Christmas letters about how wonderful we are and how perfect everyone is (which is so far from the truth and my unpublished blogs can prove it!) but I think I throw enough honesty out there that most of you know we are far from that.
I am glad that I have documented these past few years so much better than the first 17 of our married life. I find myself through out the day making a mental note "Oh, I should blog about that!" and even my older children come to me with "Mom, you need to blog about this!"
Blogging is great to keep track of life events, vent, share pictures and stories with family and friends far away and especially nice when James is gone as my post go right to his email so he can see what we're up to or how crazy and irrational his wife is.
I also love following my friends and family blogs, it gives glimpses into their lives that you otherwise would not see and makes me feel connected and part of their lives.
But why do I let everyone read about us?
Am I an exhibitionist?
I've been thinking about it all day.
Do I have some perverse psycho disorder where I want to let everyone and anyone into my personal life?I don't know. I'm not shy, that's for sure. I'm not a fabulous writer so it's not for my secret desire to woo the world with my writing talent, so what is it?
Would I blog as much if I had no audience?I don't know. I know most my followers (and I truly think there are only a handful) started following around our adoption adventure. While putting together our paperwork and preparing to go get Alex I started lurking other blogs documenting Ukraine adoptions and I just couldn't get enough information. I decided then I would document our adventure thoroughly for those coming behind us, for my family at home and for Alex, so someday we can look back at read about his "birth" into our family.
My friends that blogged their adoption adventures (which I followed like a crazy woman) rarely if ever blog anymore. (Whats up with that friends? Don't you think we want to know about how things are going? Hear funny adjusting stories, or just hear you complain and vent about the difficulty of adding a new child to your families and life?)
If you thought this post would end with a philosophical and heart warming answer as to why I blog, you're wrong. I'm still trying to figure that out so until then....I'll guess I'll just keep blogging.