On Timelines and Mother's Days

The following post is sponsored by LegacyBuilder, a website that allows parents to create digital scrapbooks and time capsules for their children and families. 

Last year I wrote an open letter to Mother's Day. And in that letter I wrote the following...

In my head I felt I was doing them a favor. I was liberating them from the pressure that a day like Mothers Day provides. Because I didn't want them to do anything for me out of obligation. I don't want anyone to do anything for me out of obligation, but especially not them. That's energy better spent elsewhere. On things that aren't obligatory, you know?

And in 2012 I also wrote a post about Mother's Day and it was very angsty and sad and desperate because that is how I was feeling at the time. I was exhausted and sleep deprived and day dreaming about everything on the other side of my life.

And yet. Sometimes. Even surrounded by the thick green grass of Sunday afternoons, I become infatuated with the pavement. The grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence because there isn't any; just miles of cement slabs cracked and uprooted by trees.

Mother's Day, 2011, I had just found out I was pregnant with twin girls and spent Mother's Day with my family in Nana's garden. This is what I looked like that week:

And in 2010, I wrote this post after spending the day at Noah's Ark with the kids and Fable was walking everywhere and I was asking Hal for a third baby because Fable at that AGE was the ray of sunshine she is now and made me want a thousand babies which... (cut to now) is totally what happened.

In 2009 I posted this which I remember thinking was hysterical at the time and was the only one to laugh. (You had to be there, maybe?)

And in 2008, twenty weeks pregnant with Fable, I posted a few pictures of Archer in the hat he used to wear all.the.time and I TOTALLY forgot about that hat! I LOVED that hat! (Where did I put that hat? Did I get rid of it? No. I wouldn't have. Would I have?)

In 2007, I posted a Danzig video, congratulated Liz (of Mom-101) on her new baby and did a radio show with The Suicide Girls OMG WTF. (I am crying laughing right now because AHAHAHAHAH oh dear.)

And finally, in 2006, my first official Mother's Day, I thanked what was at the time a small community of parent bloggers for being  "the very first community I have felt 100% able to be me, with all my wacky-ideas and stories and secrets and rants and epic photo spreads." and included a stock photo of True Religion jeans.

***

One of the blessings (and curses) of having a blog is being able to look back on moments and realize how different I am as a person. There is much talk of the changes in our children but seldom do we take a moment to look back on how we've changed as adults. I look like a child in those early posts compared to now and although it's painful looking back on old photos of the kids, I find it incredibly exciting to compare who I am today with who I was then. Because you know what? Aging is awesome and having a record of that is pretty amazing.

Life is where we wear and tear and most importantly, become better more evolved human beings.

There is much talk of "mommy blogs" being digital baby books but if this blog has been anyone's baby book, it's been mine. I have grown up here. For better and for worse.

***

I didn't write anything about Mother's Day this year because I feel like this entire blog is a Mother's Day post, but you know what I realized late Sunday night, coming down from a fantastic day spent with my family at the beach? That as of this week, Mother's Day is my favorite holiday. Right up there with Halloween. You know why? Because it's really nice to be recognized.

It's nice to get cards from your children and homemade gifts. (Archer wrote me a poem. And told me he loved me like 3 times. Which... YES! I KNEW IT!) It's wonderful to be asked, "Mom? What's your favorite breakfast foods?" and see your kids wink at each other and then wake up to eggs and the Sunday paper and coffee and flowers from your Boo...

My kids were amazing on Sunday. I don't know what Hal slipped into their bottled waters but I spent the day floating on a cloud of gratitude and it felt really nice to be there, you know? 

It felt nice to sit on the beach and be like YES. THESE are my people. THIS IS A GOOD LIFE, YO. THANK YOU, LIFE!

It felt so nice that for the first time in six sugarless weeks, I let Bo have a popsicle on the beach with her sibs because the kids were begging and it was a special day and the ice cream dude decided to set up shop right in front of us, ergh. 

And when the meltdown occurred hours later?

Well, that's another story for another day coming soon to a website near you/this website. 

Tomorrow morning, we leave for Vermontreal for ten days for my brother's wedding/family time and while I'm sure I'll be documenting much of what happens there on my site because I am by trade, instinct and profession, a documentarian... I will also be keeping much to myself. I will be sharing photos with family. Telling stories around the fire. (We're essentially camping in Vermont for three nights for my brother's wedding. It's going to be EPIC I AM SO EXCITED.) EXISTING in the moment, unplugged.

I think a lot about how different my life would be had I not started this website and created, over the last nine years, my own personal legacy builder. For the last nine years, my family has been able to follow along, from all over the world.

For a lot of new parents, keeping a public journal is not an option. Privacy is something most people value and although I have always been very open and share-y with my every single everything, I am aware this is not for everyone.

Which I understand.

And respect.

That said, if I had been born a more private person, this would have been a wonderful way to share my life, tell my story, document my family in a way that was organized and accessible and private...

I signed up for LegacyBuilder earlier this week and spent some time on the website to make sure it was something worth suggesting to you guys and it's a pretty incredible system.

I was able to import everything from Facebook with the click of a button and all of my events were automatically updated by date. It's also free for a limited time so you can give it a try and see if it's up your alley. (If you do want to join, you can use code GIRLSGONE1 and get a free lifetime premium account. So, again... nothing to lose besides the three minutes it takes to sign up and upload a million photos to your account.)

Nice work, LegacyBuilder and cheers to all who tell stories, who change tunes, who see the world a little differently than they did the year before. That is, after all, why we're here, right? To grow. To build. To share our legacies...

And to enjoy ourselves a good old fashioned Mother's Day once in a while. 

Have a great weekend, all.

GGC