Hopping on the Blogwagon

I was chatting with a dear friend from college yesterday and she asked me about blogging. Apologies to her ahead of time if she reads this since I'm shamelessly reusing material from that conversation. Her other mommy friend told her about her blog within 2 days of me telling her about mine. "Is it the new craze?" she asks. I dunno. It does kinda seem like a fad. Everyone and their dog is doing it. (Really. Someone out their keeps a blog on behalf of their dog who is also the narrator of a book. For all I know, there could actually be a dog out there who bangs out some stuff on the keyboard and gets it posted. And though some blogs claim to be generated by humans, you'd never know given the quality of content. I think a dog might do a BETTER job. Of course, rest assured I'm not talking about your blog.) So how do I feel about joining the faceless throng of bloggers? And why are there so many mommy blogs in particular?

I don't know the answer to the first question. But I have some theories about the second. Cheap shots - there's much easier jokes to be had in life as a parent. Kids make such excellent blog fodder. You don't need wit, skill, or anything like that. Just fertility and the ability to type intelligibly (which does put you ahead of most dogs...) The kids generate the material for you whether you want them to or not. I just hope my blog never turns into a place to post the "up to the minute" record of the latest crappy snapshot I took of my kid. (Again, I'm not talking about your blog... Besides, I have to sheepishly admit that's what I use my Shutterfly Collection for!) I hope that the occasional photo I post is either decent to look at or illustrates a point I am making in my writing.

But how do I feel about the Y.A.B. status ("Yet Another Blogger")? Like I said, I'm not sure. My gut reaction is that I shouldn't be blogging then. But M is always pointing out my tendency to think that if "everyone" is doing something, that automatically makes it bad. You should hear my sister and me when we get to talking, dissing things left and right just because it's "typical." It can really get out of hand. I wish I was more like M. He always says, "Maybe everyone is doing it because it's the right answer. Maybe they figured something out that you haven't." This is why we own a minivan. He gave me the preceding lecture and then dragged me off to test drive minivans. He was right. The minivan was better for hauling my "brood." There's just so much ROOM inside and I'm kidding myself if I think I actually would use the extra ground clearance of an SUV. But I'd like to think the minivan superiority was an isolated incident. I mean, if I give in on this philosophy then I worry that next week I'll have Thomas Kinkade paintings on my walls and my kids will be living off fruit snacks (READ: candy). (I'm not sure a "I'm not talking about you" comment will work on this one. Sorry if either of those describe you. I still like you, they're just not for me.) But I guess for now I will plow ahead with blogging because I'm having so much fun with it and try to ignore the little voice in my head saying, "You're turning into a cookie cutter replica of everyone else!" The little voice is probably still cramming its family and all their stuff into a little Honda Pilot anyway, so what does it know?