8 February 2010

The Price of Me

I have a terrible habit of keeping FB open on my computer all day. I check it much too often when I have a down moment from the slog of trying to keep house and mother two young boys. I know I should turn the effing thing off and either spend those moments between laundry, cooking, dishes, diapers, refereeing and be with the boys. It's why I gave up my other "mommyblog" [gag]. And when I don't use that time with them, I should have my computer open to Word and use that time to write. Even if it's just a line, I really need to grab what time I can get.

That said, yesterday a friend posted on FB a link to an article which was based on this post which is a top ten list of things that aren’t as cheap as you think. If you don't have time to read it, scroll down to the number one item. It was both surprising to me and not. I think anyone who has spent anytime as a primary caregiver will pipe up with a 'hells ya'. It's hard, undervalued work and I find it interesting that in the statistics he used, if this work were paid, it would have been half of the world's output in 1995. Again, not that surprising. What did bristle me, however, was the label he used: women's work. The feminist in me raged telepathically to him. I'm not going to try to recreate it; I'm sure you can come up with your own. Here's a good place to start: women + work ≠ 'women's work'.

Ugh.

I go through waves of blog reading and my reading list has changed dramatically since I first discovered ye olde blogworlde. When my first son was a newborn I devoured many, many mommyblogs. I think they were my stories. Now, I only follow a few and none of them are just about parenting anymore. I grew bored of irony and cynicism or conversely the rainbows and unicorns of others' daily lives. Eventually I discovered lit blogs, specifically Canadian lit blogs. I try to keep up, but I don't. I'm always behind and gap out and consequently don't understand the private jabs and public politics. I've started reading them a little less, too. However, I recently followed links to find some new(ish)-to-me blogs that feel like home. Canadian writing mothers who aren't afraid to write about writing or babies or birthdays or books. I've mostly been lurking, but they are great. They feel like home. Have I finally found my online tribe?: Pickle Me This, Meli-Melo, and Obscure Can Lit Mama.

In my previous post, I wrote about the auction to which I had donated my poetry. The auction is now over and I'm thrilled to report that my four-pack went for a whopping $120! I still can't believe it. I had honestly thought that I'd have to get my husband to bid for it. And to top it off, it's going to someone I don't know.

7 comments:

Kerry said...

Thank you for including me among those others, which are my favourites. I like them for being smart, inspiring, comfortable, funny and interesting. Yours too. And congratulations on your auction sale.

sweetsalty kate said...

I can believe it. :)
xoxo

Laish said...

I love this post

Kerry said...

I just received Room with your poem in it! Looking forward.

Anonymous said...

Oh, thanks for including me too! I can relate to pretty much EVERYTHING you wrote about - I truly admire those other two and love seeing my name beside them. These days I feel torn between my role as a Mom which I honestly feel should be my primary role right now as my little one isn't even 2 and my other one isn't born yet - and my role as a writer which I NEED to do as a creative outlet. I love your interviews with writing mothers - they are all giving me such hope that I can get back on the writing horse. Also, I try hard not to make my blog just a mommy-blog as I find many of them snarky and judgemental but since it is such a huge part of my life right now somedays I just have nothing else to talk about.

Shawna Lemay said...

i also love this post! i've been mulling over ways to re-invent my blog, myself too i suppose. and to really just find more time to write. no answers yet, but nice to know i'm not alone. know what you mean also about wanting to be present with kids. it's all so fleeting. thanks for writing this m....

Carrie Snyder said...

Very glad to be considered part of your tribe!