2nd Blogversary - Why I Write

Last week was our 2nd blogversary, but let's celebrate this week, shall we?  (If you play along, I promise to give away cupcakes!)  Also, can we please make up a song for the blogversary to the tune of The First Annual Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence?

Still Playing School has become more like a (delighful! enjoyable!) part time job and less of a hobby in 2013, which is my third year of writing.  Since I've started to treat it as such, we've seen an large increase in traffic as I am posting regularly.

Mr. SPS once asked what the return on investment is, particularly when I hired a mother's helper once a week to free up some uninterrupted writing time (which I then ended up using mostly to clean the house).  Essentially, why do I spend so much time writing here?

I started writing primarily to catalog the activities I did with E and to record her development.  Our second post was a sensory play date with Everest and Irelyn, who we are having co-op home school preschool with this summer!

And then, of course, we took a hiatus when we learned of Violet's diagnosis until after she was born and left us.  The following December, while visiting with Jamie and Lisa, I discussed my desire to write again, not just about E, but also about Violet.  I was struggling with the fact that my grief might not fit into the theme of this blog.  They assured me that the blog should encompass all parts of me, of us, of our family.

Still Playing School became a safe place for me to grieve.  I could write about Violet here without sympathetic or shocked or questioning eyes staring back at me.  Only those who wanted to read would visit.  Meghan, the owner of Splat Studio, once pointed out that my grief outreach was also education and teaching.  I tucked that comment into my back pocket for when writing about Violet feels self indulgent and so therapeutic that I forget it may help others.

Once pregnant with D, SPS was a place to marvel about our rainbow pregnancy and this little baby who appeared when we needed him most.  Once again, I had a vision of two students with whom to play school.

Bryan, the owner of Five Stone Kids, pointed out that this blog is my 10,000 hours of practice that may lead me to a future where writing plays a larger role in who I am.  

I love what Still Playing School has evolved into over the past two years.  I love the opportunities it has brought us, the people I've met, the experiences that it's inspired.  I love who I've become through writing.  I write for me and I write for my family and I write for you.  I love every single one of you, our readers, for traveling this journey with us.  Thank you!

When and how did you find Still Playing School?