On Writing

Poof.

Gone.

That's what happened to my laptop last week. I turned it off one evening, and couldn't turn it back on again the next day. I think I sent my computer into some sort of a coma, or even worse - killed it - 'cause all the sweet nothings I tried whispering into its various USB ports did nothin'. Nada. Zilch.

So, other than briefly swiping my hubby's laptop when he got home from work, I wasn't on a computer all week. And, I have yet to get mine working again. So, this week will probably be another light one here at Short Stop.

Sigh. I have missed you all.

So, I took an unexpected bloggy break - thanks to the passed out 'puter. Which gave me a lot of time to think. No time to type. But, plenty of time to think.

And, all that thinking made me realize something about myself.

People often ask me why I blog. And, I have never come up with an answer that truly captures why I do it. Perhaps that's because the answer is always changing - why I started isn't why I do it now. And, why I publish one post, isn't why I publish the next.

But as I lived through last week - my mind stuffed full of thoughts and personal revelations and stories and meals around our family table that I desperately wanted to empty out onto virtual paper, I realized that it is in writing about these moments and sharing these stories that I experience them most fully. That by recreating these moments through colorful phrases and words, I process my life in a deeper and lasting sense - in all of its beauty and hilarity and deliciousness.

As I wind along this motherhood path, trying to absorb every memory of love and drama and joy and chaos, it is through this process of writing that I'm keeping these precious days from slipping away without first fully drenching myself in the wonder of each moment.

Writing allows me to truly feel and experience each moment on the deepest of levels.

As I scroll through the almost two years of archives sitting on my sidebar, I am in awe that I can be swept away - back to a moment in time - and relive with clarity and fullness and depth so many memories that would have otherwise been lost in a sea of motherhood murkiness.

By writing about my experiences as a wife and mother - by sharing our family stories and capturing the spirit of our life through the words on this blog - I am handing my future self, and my children, a set of keys...

The keys to unlocking our memories and reliving them again with the same fullness and breadth that we're living them now.