Four years ago I started my own website, mainly as a way to get my musings down without writing in a godforsaken journal. For several years, both of my readers enjoyed what I had to say. I really didn’t care who was reading it … the blog was really more of an outlet for me to tell a story or two (or, at last count, 575 oh-so random entries.)
Well, over the course of the last month, two of my dear friends have started blogging. And each has a wildly different story to tell.
Take for instance, my bestie Kiki. She’s a mom of three kids and another overgrown adolescent, her hubby Rod. I’ve been saying she should blog for years, but she eschewed my pleas saying, “There’s eight million mommy blogs out there. What’s gonna separate mine from the rest?”
“Well, for one thing,” I told her, “it’s coming from an organic place.” I suggested carving out time to write just to get something down. In casual conversation one day she was lamenting about her children and said, “I wonder if Caroline Ingalls had to put up with this sh*t?!” My OJ almost came out my nose and, thus, a blog was born.
Her unofficial motto: “I love my kids … I really do, but …”
Kiki once gave me an impossibly good piece of advice. She poured over a break-up letter I had just written and said (in her best no-nonsense mom tone of voice that I despise): “You’re censoring yourself in this letter. Sure, you can send this version, but how about you write something freestyle and let ‘er rip?” That was the e-mail I ended up sending three days later. And it was both poignant and genius.
Fast-forward to Keek’s first blog. Out of the gate, she did the same thing … bobbing and weaving through a few topics without much substance. So I busted her on censoring herself. Since then, she’s found her voice, a snarky, but well-meaning hausfrau who’s too-smart-for-her-own-good. Now she’s borderline brilliant. Confessions of a TV Mom Wannabe, indeed. You can find her here: http://tvmomwannabe.blogspot.com/
I’d be happy for her new foray into blogging if I wasn’t so jealous of her mad-crazy writing abilities.
My friend Roman, meanwhile, has done more living in 26+ years than most people do in their entire lives. He’s a decorated military veteran injured in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Not only does the kid speak multiple languages, he’s a proficient weapons expert. Even better … he’s Southern. Not like “hey-y’all-I’m-from-the-South”, but more like deeeep south … where words drip out of someone’s mouth like slow-moving molasses. Roman can make a one-syllable word hang on for three to four hours if given time to emote. And, of course, he lives in rural Jaw-Juh.
While recovering from a brain injury he suffered on duty, he decided to take some much-needed R&R. As the story goes … he was out fishing one early morning and had an epiphany to become a chef. And the rest as they say is history. When I met him, he was in Washington, D.C. touting an organization that ensures childhood hunger in the U.S. is a thing of the past.
Now that Roman has started blogging, he can’t stop. Go check out http://50shadesofroman.com/. (Yes, 50 Shades Of Roman … that’s funny by itself.)
He’s written about everything from how to properly make out with him to pooping on a goat trail behind enemy lines. (Uh, the two are mercifully NOT related.) His writing is unexpected, painfully honest, ADD-induced and still manages to tug gently at the heartstrings. (I would expect no less as he calls his grandmother “mee-maw”. When I talked to him earlier this week, they were making wild strawberry and fig preserves. If that isn’t wholesome, I don’t know what is.)
I’ll warn you now … Roman blogs and blogs and blogs. He’s written more in the last forty minutes than I’ve written in 40 days, but it’s quality material and you’ll get a sense of who he is within the first two sentences. (But you must read everything in thick Southern accent. Kinda like Charlene on “Designing Women” … but in a really butch, masculine voice.)
I love that my friends are blogging. And, even more, that they have chosen to share their stories with the general public. The world is a better place with their creativity out in the universe.