Sheep and wolves

Before I begin, let me assure you that the last post was NOT meant to advise you to personally have 3 children. I could write a much longer post about why it is really smart and satisfying to stop with one or two children. I will not be held responsible for future 3rd children in your families ;)


Okay, so on to my post for today.


I've been thinking about all the friends I have on the computer. Versus the friends I have in "real" life. Let me preface this whole post by saying I am eternally grateful to all of these friends...regardless of whether I know you in person or not. Much of the monotony of my days is tempered by these relationships.


I really enjoy the company of other mothers. Because so often I watch my child doing something that seems totally socially unacceptable (for an example, let's say I listen to my child interject the word "eyeball" into every sentence and then laugh uncontrollably) only to go to a social function with OTHER mothers and their kiddos...and I hear them complain about their child doing the same thing (only it is the word underwear instead). Suddenly, I am relieved of this worry that my child has mild brain damage and instead shrug it off as a normal, age-appropriate quirk.



And now I have other mothers as friends...on the Internet. This is FANTASTIC! Even more people to bounce ideas off on.

Except for one thing. See, in a playgroup, there are usually 3-5 other mothers. So you bring up a topic, and maybe one person can't relate, and 2 others TOTALLY relate. (Geez, I am embarrassed to admit that I hide my sweets from my husband so he thinks I am eating healthy when I'm not. What? You do it too? Awesome, I'm totally normal. And we have so much in common! Be my friend!). This makes you feel like you have some comrades in the battlefield of life, and it is fun to find a few others who share your quirks. On the Internet, I will often read a blog of another mother and think, "Wow. That is really cool. This person thinks just like me...I can so relate to this post. I should tell her so we can be friends and comrades." So I comment to let that person know that we are kindred spirits and she is not alone in her quirks.

And then I see that there are 145 other comments. There are usually 5 anonymous comments saying, "You are a freakin' freak who should have your freakin' children taken away because you are a freakin' freak. And you have to listen to my superior and supremely rude comment because you choose to have a public blog, but I'm too chicken to actually post my name, so I must realize deep down that I am not socially acceptable. Which makes ME the freak." But then there are 140 of them are people saying, "Wow. How cool. I totally can relate to this post. We must be kindred spirits."

Which kind of makes me feel weird. Like I am so unoriginal and generic that 140 other people are doing and thinking the same exact thing? Suddenly I don't feel so much like I have comrades in life as I am a sheep in a herd bleating away in the din of other sheep.

But I still read the blogs. Because, heck, I'd rather be a sheep in a herd than alone on the mountain with nothing but wolves for company (that would be you, anonymous commenters).