"The hardest part about starting to write a blog is starting. Where do you dive in to the Internet life of blogging?
The past decade has been a composite of helping my mother reach 100...(well, I didn't do it, I have just been there to help), returning to college to get my bachelors degree in journalism, marrying Ben nearly three years ago after raising son Jared and being a single mom for 19 years, working for a newspaper beginning at age 58, becoming editor and helping start a small-town newspaper, and then quitting September 2008 to be more available to mom, help Ben with his home-repair business, paint the inside of the house, do my part-time photography business, garden, and pray for inspiration to write. It's a full life."
Since then I have posted fairly consistently about the garden, posted my favorite photos, and lately more about taking care of my now 101-year-old mom. I've drawn parallels between caretaking the garden and caretaking my mother. Both require tenacity, forbearance, humor, and courage.
This blog is a forum for me to share not only the travails of caretaking an aging parent (and a garden) with those who may or may not caretake an aging parent (or a garden), but also a place for me to share the resulting levity.
I love writing this blog because I love to write. I've always said, "If one person reads what I write and is touched by it, it's all worth it." Thank you to those who read my blog.
I also write this blog for therapy. I would be heartbroken if my writing caused embarrassment to my mother or to my family. But writing the truth, is, well, writing the truth. This is my experience. It is not meant to belittle or to shame. There are things I don't share. But mostly I try to share the raw truth, without censor, about what it's like to caretake a remarkable person who sometimes makes me feel a little bit crazy.
This blog is not intended, however, to be limited to stories about my mother or the garden.
I have begun a couple of writing projects, about which I hope to share, if not in the blog, at least on a stand-alone page.
