After much poking and prodding and a wee bit of encouragement from my husband and all the internet people, I have begun writing a book for grown-ups and have finished a book for children.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that either will ever be available in a book store near you, but I can always dream about it.<\/p>\n
Writing is a strange thing, and it\u2019s made even odder by blogging.\u00a0 Here\u2019s the thing\u2026 when I write, people listen.\u00a0 It may only be a small handful of folks who regularly click over to see what I\u2019m thinking about today, but even that is weird.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a stay at home mom, which in the real world translates to \u201cinvisible.\u201d\u00a0 I don\u2019t try to kid myself about my lowly social status, I\u2019m quite honest with myself about it.\u00a0 It took years of dinner parties and social gatherings of one kind or another for the truth of my place to truly sink in.<\/p>\n
In our society, it is a profession which defines a person.\u00a0 Often the first question people ask is \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d\u00a0 (The sarcastic part of me longs to answer \u201cAbout what?\u201d) I know that the questioner is trying to figure me out with this sure-fire look into my life.\u00a0 Am I a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor?\u00a0 Am I somebody worth taking the time and effort of getting to know?\u00a0 Or am I someone unsavory to be avoided like the guy who kills puppies at the pound? (I\u2019m sure he\u2019s a nice guy, but who wants that job?)<\/p>\n
Of course, I am none of these things.\u00a0 I get no paycheck, have no boss, don\u2019t even have a place to go on weekdays.\u00a0 I used to smile hopefully and chirp back, \u201cI\u2019m a mom!\u201d, now I know better. Stay at home moms are invisible to working type people.\u00a0 Their eyes glaze over and a veil of boredom covers their gaze, or they get a slightly panicked look as they try to find the nearest exit.\u00a0 I am the one person with whom they have nothing in common.\u00a0\u00a0 My being well read, well educated, and fun to talk to means absolutely nothing, because I may be fun to talk to, but what on earth would we talk about?<\/p>\n
I think the horror story would be that all I know is diapers, spit up and babies.\u00a0\u00a0 In reality, I studied political science, follow the news like a pro, and am a voracious reader.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter.\u00a0 I\u2019m a mom.\u00a0 I\u2019m dull.\u00a0 Can we move on?<\/p>\n
I had become accustomed to my invisibility.\u00a0 Then I started to blog.\u00a0 I wrote things down just for the mental exercise of it, and you stopped by to read it.\u00a0 I get emails and comments from people I\u2019ve never met about how I\u2019ve touched them, and the wallflower in me blushes with pleasure at being seen.<\/p>\n
Then last week I took the \u201cauthor\u201d label for a spin.\u00a0 I was introduced to someone I\u2019ve actually met three times before, but he never remembers me.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWhat do you do?\u201d he asked.\u00a0 \u201cI write.\u201d I told him.\u00a0 What followed was twenty minutes of the most interesting discussion I\u2019ve had in years.\u00a0 He asked how it was that we\u2019d never met before and I just smiled.<\/p>\n
As strange as invisibility is, this is even stranger.\u00a0 The author has a lofty position in our society.\u00a0 He\/She is viewed as somehow intellectually superior to the average person.\u00a0 With one word I went from the lowest social strata to the highest.\u00a0 I went from not worth noticing to fascinating.\u00a0 I may not say it every time, but it sure was fun to be momentarily important.\u00a0 So thank you internet people, without your interest I\u2019d still be just a mom in Oklahoma.\u00a0 The best thing about you is you like me that way, you saw me even when I was invisible.\u00a0 Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
After much poking and prodding and a wee bit of encouragement from my husband and all the internet people, I have begun writing a book for grown-ups and have finished a book for children.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know that either will ever be available in a book store near you, but I can always dream about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n