My favorite blessing is one that's found in many cultures in slightly varying form. I can't really tell you if I'm a religious person or not--it's a constant debate in my mind and a topic for another day. But this adaptation from Numbers has always touched me, and it's what I hope for each of you in 2013:
May life bless you and keep you, may it shine up on you and be gracious to you, may it lift you up and give you peace.
I haven't written in a few weeks because I've been suffering a blogger-crisis-of-identity. Getting to spend two weeks of vacation home with Miles over the holidays made me remember so many things I wanted to share about having an infant! But then I thought about my ratio of posts (mommy posts:general posts) and even in my short history as a blogger the former greatly outweigh the latter. Does that mean I need to skip "mommy" posts for awhile? To make sure readers understand that I want to blog about life in general, that this isn't just a "mommy" blog, that I don't want to get pegged in one category?
My mommy side realized that this must be a frustration for all parents everywhere. We love our children and our lives truly revolve around them. But I don't want to be just "Miles's mom," (though it's my proudest job). I want to be ANAH, who is a teacher, who enjoys having a drink with friends, who likes to laugh, who is a little too serious sometimes... And in the few months I've been a parent (even going back to being pregnant) I've found it's harder to have a conversation with someone who's not a parent because all I can think to talk about is how Miles has started pooping every other day instead of every day or the cool new high chair I just saw last weekend at a friend's house. Really people? I need some topics of conversation.
My non-mommy side realized that this must be a frustration for EVERYONE. I remember in one of my first education classes in college studying the formation of identity and how our identities really aren't fully formed until our mid to late 20s. Even then our quest for "identity achievement" (thanks Erik Erikson--I should be citing this but I'm not a grad student anymore so just take my word for it or Google it, ok?) will likely last most of our adult lives.
As we all--parents or not--explore, try new things and form our identities, none of us want to be pegged according to one thing we've done or haven't done! And the more I've thought about it, the more I think this frustration actually hinders us in our daily lives.
So moms, dads, non-moms, non-dads, I hope you all take time this year to try something new and enjoy it. And whether you decide to become a "_____-er" or not, I hope the experience enriches you and makes you smile.
Oh, and the next blog? All about babies.
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