I love blog land. I follow not only Ukraine adoption blogs but just fun blogs of my friends and families life and some perfectly entertaining strangers. In fact following their blogs makes me feel so much more apart of their lives-my family & friends that is. (I sort of feel like a stalker on the blogs I follow anonymously. And, yes this would be direct hint to my friends and family that follow this blog and don't blog themselves or update very often....yes,I mean you!!)
Some blogs make me think, laugh, get perspective, remind me how blessed I am, etc.
But sometimes they make me feel bad. Like the blogs that make talk about how they eat only organic vegan diets, make every cutesy craft under the sun, run triathlons and marathons on a weekly bases, have perfect children with perfect grades, and husbands that never fart or snore, run the PTA, home school, serve in congress, visit shut ins, write a fabulous blog and are just all around PERFECT! Blech! I usually don't put these bloggers on my dashboard.
I like real life. Not fairy tales and certainly not guilt!!
But a blog today made me feel bad. Not in a way I can possibly do anything about or improve myself on. And I'm sure she didn't mean to make anyone feel bad-like some of those "perfect" bloggers that just love to tell you how wonderful their lives are- she was talking about all her sisters and sister in laws and everyone having babies at the same time and it made me sad. Dumb huh? Well let me explain, I have one precious sister-whom I love dearly. No sister in laws on my side and my sister in laws on my husbands side live far away or are just somewhat distant. (Not that they probably mean to be-they're just so busy with their side of the family and all their sisters.)
My sister and I are eight years apart. Making my youngest child a year younger than her oldest child so we overlap-but barely.
My oldest three were the only grandchildren in my family for seven years. No cousin's their age-and cousins close to their age on the other side lived out of state most of the time.
I long for MORE sisters! Is that crazy? Wouldn't it be fun to get together and have oodles of children, someone for everyone? Scrapbook and go to lunch and exchange play dates with? That if one sister can't go shopping another could? That when planning big dinners for the family it's not just three women trying to feed a crowd (me, my mom & my sis) but like 6 or 7?
I know, I know. Many people don't have ANY sisters or sibling for that matter. But I can still long for more sisters right? Brothers-I have. Three of them. Three very eligible, SINGLE brothers. I still have glimmers of hope that they will marry and the women they marry will bring baggage similar in age to my children but as time goes on, that hope dims until it's just a fleck of light without much substance, warmth or possibility.
On the other hand, it could be worse. I could have NO sisters. I could have psycho sisters/sister in laws that are c0-dependent, bi-polar, borrow things and never return them, need me to babysit ALL THE TIME, pay their mortgage or move in with me. I could have sisters/sister in laws that hate me, my children, my husband or dog. (Hum, not sure my real sister likes my dog too much?) They could have terrible children that destroy my house, hurt my kids, eat everything and or steal from us. (See where I'm going with this?)
I often tell neighbors of my sellers-and sometimes my sellers themselves- when they approach me with "I hope you find a good family for this/our house." or "Don't let any (insert an ethnicity right here) move into our neighborhood!" That you should be careful what you wish for. I would take a quiet ethnic, lesbian couple that keeps to themselves, keeps the yard up and parks their cars in the garage any day to a family that keeps old junkers in their yard up on blocks, can't park in the garage due to the crap they're storing in there, doesn't mow or weed or rake their leaves-or just blows them into your yard- never takes down their Christmas lights, has loud gangster looking teens coming and going at all hours of the night and speeding down the street. Yes I would. Regardless if this said "good" family goes to CHURCH every week! Good grief.
So Wendy, (This is my pep talk to myself here-everyone else can stop reading) stop whining about your lack of sisters and nieces and nephews. The one's you have are pretty great and you love them and they love you. That's what counts! Be careful....it could be worse!
Some blogs make me think, laugh, get perspective, remind me how blessed I am, etc.
But sometimes they make me feel bad. Like the blogs that make talk about how they eat only organic vegan diets, make every cutesy craft under the sun, run triathlons and marathons on a weekly bases, have perfect children with perfect grades, and husbands that never fart or snore, run the PTA, home school, serve in congress, visit shut ins, write a fabulous blog and are just all around PERFECT! Blech! I usually don't put these bloggers on my dashboard.
I like real life. Not fairy tales and certainly not guilt!!
But a blog today made me feel bad. Not in a way I can possibly do anything about or improve myself on. And I'm sure she didn't mean to make anyone feel bad-like some of those "perfect" bloggers that just love to tell you how wonderful their lives are- she was talking about all her sisters and sister in laws and everyone having babies at the same time and it made me sad. Dumb huh? Well let me explain, I have one precious sister-whom I love dearly. No sister in laws on my side and my sister in laws on my husbands side live far away or are just somewhat distant. (Not that they probably mean to be-they're just so busy with their side of the family and all their sisters.)
My sister and I are eight years apart. Making my youngest child a year younger than her oldest child so we overlap-but barely.
My oldest three were the only grandchildren in my family for seven years. No cousin's their age-and cousins close to their age on the other side lived out of state most of the time.
I long for MORE sisters! Is that crazy? Wouldn't it be fun to get together and have oodles of children, someone for everyone? Scrapbook and go to lunch and exchange play dates with? That if one sister can't go shopping another could? That when planning big dinners for the family it's not just three women trying to feed a crowd (me, my mom & my sis) but like 6 or 7?
I know, I know. Many people don't have ANY sisters or sibling for that matter. But I can still long for more sisters right? Brothers-I have. Three of them. Three very eligible, SINGLE brothers. I still have glimmers of hope that they will marry and the women they marry will bring baggage similar in age to my children but as time goes on, that hope dims until it's just a fleck of light without much substance, warmth or possibility.
On the other hand, it could be worse. I could have NO sisters. I could have psycho sisters/sister in laws that are c0-dependent, bi-polar, borrow things and never return them, need me to babysit ALL THE TIME, pay their mortgage or move in with me. I could have sisters/sister in laws that hate me, my children, my husband or dog. (Hum, not sure my real sister likes my dog too much?) They could have terrible children that destroy my house, hurt my kids, eat everything and or steal from us. (See where I'm going with this?)
I often tell neighbors of my sellers-and sometimes my sellers themselves- when they approach me with "I hope you find a good family for this/our house." or "Don't let any (insert an ethnicity right here) move into our neighborhood!" That you should be careful what you wish for. I would take a quiet ethnic, lesbian couple that keeps to themselves, keeps the yard up and parks their cars in the garage any day to a family that keeps old junkers in their yard up on blocks, can't park in the garage due to the crap they're storing in there, doesn't mow or weed or rake their leaves-or just blows them into your yard- never takes down their Christmas lights, has loud gangster looking teens coming and going at all hours of the night and speeding down the street. Yes I would. Regardless if this said "good" family goes to CHURCH every week! Good grief.
So Wendy, (This is my pep talk to myself here-everyone else can stop reading) stop whining about your lack of sisters and nieces and nephews. The one's you have are pretty great and you love them and they love you. That's what counts! Be careful....it could be worse!
2 of my blog friends said something...:
As a woman with no sisters (who also just wants to know people who are 'nice', not 'perfect'), this is my favorite post of yours to date.
AMEN! Thank goodness for me-I have you, sister-cuz! Although I don't live there, IF I did, I would definitely tag along to lunch dates with you and Kam, scrapbook with ya, and help with those big family dinners for sure!
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