I love discovering other blogs that blow me away; making me immediately do things like feed my children entire plates of leftover Christmas cookies and put on 3 million hours of Barney, just so I can read every last word written on the blog. I fear if I don’t absorb it all in one sitting, the words might disappear before my next visit.

I tend to be that way about things that I fall in love with. I am not satisfied to have a sample or a taste, or to wait patiently and come back later for more. If I read a book by an author I like, suddenly, I find myself on Amazon buying every book they have ever written. Or if I watch a TV show that I did not start watching from the beginning, I must go back and find every last episode ever aired so I can catch up, as though the TV characters cannot possibly exist without my knowing every single detail about their lives.

The problem, or self-respectfully “challenge,” with someone like me when I fall in love with a blog is that I tend to forget when I am reading that I don’t actually know these writers, because their words feel so true and so real.

I find myself thinking about them when I am loading the dishwasher or taking a shower (Ewww gross people, not like that; only because it is where I do my best thinking, DUH!), and I want to write them and say, you know what, we should totally be friends, because you get me and I get you, and pink puffy hearts all over the place. Except … oh yeah, I don’t actually know any of you.

But because I learned to share back in 1980, when my parents brought home a 2nd child and suddenly the house went from being all about me to all about how to keep my sister from losing her mind or temper (maybe I am projecting the problems of my own house here, I am not entirely sure), I want to share with you a few bloggers who have made such an impact on me.

Check them out, though, please don’t check them out so hard that you forget to come back here, too, because you know that would be totally lame. Like introducing a friend and it’s all “hey, the more the merrier, table for three” to suddenly you hearing about them having salad on the side, because … well, you know “you don’t like vegetables.”

So, without further ado, here’s some of my favorite “other” blogs:

An Inch of Gray: I will admit that I did not discover Anna’s blog until after her own personal tragedy had it explode onto the national scene, so to speak; so I give you fair warning before you even click above that you should have boxes (note the plurality of the word box) of Kleenex next to you when you begin reading. It is interesting because unlike any book, I read her blog backwards, as I suspect you will too and it is just so well-written, it is impossible to stop reading.

She is me, or you, or your best friend, or the mom in the carpool line, or the lady in the grocery store; she is us and it resonates off the page. This is what makes it feel so real and raw and at times too close for comfort, because all you’ll come away thinking about is, “if it could happen to her….” and then you’ll cry some more.

And I know you are thinking right now, but Ashley, why would I want to go and read something that will make me sob into my hands? All I can say is that you won’t “want” to read it, but you should. Because sometimes, lately, especially at that certain special hormonal time of the month when my children are fighting like little honey badgers and I just wish for some peace and quiet, I find Anna’s blog and I cry (Like I am right now). And while I don’t embrace my children’s noise, I am grateful for it.

Raising Colorado: Meet Zakary, AKA ZDub. She is … well, a she, which totally rocks; although, between you and me, I would imagine it was actually really pretty hard most of her life, especially on all those first days of school when the teacher’s eyes would naturally go to the boys in the room as she was calling the roll but I digress…. This mom is HIGH-larious y’all and I don’t mean anything by that other than the fact that she lives in the Rocky Mountains!

She, too, had a pretty crappy 2011; nothing the likes of Anna, so no need to break out boxes of Kleenex when reading this blog – although you may, at times, need a few on hand for your laughter and perhaps a few tears. She, too, is totally like us. I definitely feel like if I ran into her at the grocery store – besides it being totally weird since we live thousands of miles apart – I would definitely take her out for a beer and compare parenting notes.

Do these kids make me look CRAZY?: So this one is a little different for me because I actually know Tara in real life, which is clearly as close to knowing a celebrity as I am going to get … seriously, Angie, we have friends in common girl and you still don’t call me?

Tara, in case you did not already know, is kind of famous, even before she started writing her column, The Quiet Side of the Door, for Modern Parent. The exciting part is that I already followed her original blog before I met her in real life; so when our paths crossed, I got to play it super cool and be like, “Oh yeah, what was your name again? Sara?” Instead of all, “I have read EVERY SINGLE POST OF YOURS, EVER!” How in the world would that get me invited to her house for dinner?

Here is my favorite thing about Tara’s blog; she absolutely knows how to mix the funny with the real in just the right combination. I can go from laughing out loud at her to nodding so much it makes my neck hurt, while also crying. So I encourage you to check her out because she is pretty awesome, and I can say that because I know her!

Rants from Mommyland: It isn’t like these ladies need any plugs from me, obviously, as they have more readers than they could possibly ever need, right? Although, is that even possible? Is there a finite number of readers, and then you as the writer are like: “Nope I’m good, I couldn’t possibly take one more reader, but thank you?” I doubt it.

That being said, these woman are ridiculously funny and ridiculously famous, so kudos to them for not losing the funny along with the fame. I would so be that person, I just know it! The thing I love about Kate and Lydia (not even their real names but they keep using them anyway) is that they also pull off just enough of the tugs-at-your-heartstrings kind of posts that I can cry over there.

I don’t know if you have noticed this yet, but I am apparently a bit of a masochist, so crying really works for me. I laugh, I cry, the earth keeps on spinning, the dishes sit in the sink, the laundry sits unfolded, and all is right with the world.

From Grind to Whine: My friend in New Jersey writes this blog and I have known her for a long time, all the way back to when our oldest children were clumped on a couch together having a play date. One of the best things about Stacey is that she, like me, is a tell-it-like-it-is kind of person who, also, always looks for the funny; so I enjoy reading about her adventures in mommyhood. She does totally great mom things like bake her child a Pokemon birthday cake, so we are different enough that I am often inspired by her too … and jealous. Let’s be honest, I am jealous.

One of my favorite parts of being a blogger – because I guess that is what I am now, a blogger; even though, I mostly still feel like a mom sitting around in her jammies just writing words down hoping that someone will read them and respond with “Yeah, I get that, I hear you lady, that is what I think, too”– is that I can be connected in some small way to people all across the country, some I know and some I don’t know. I can share their lives and it makes me feel, at the end of the day, a little less like this is all just some random ride.

I leave you with this video, delivered by the amazing Kelly Corrigan, who wrote two of my very favorite books of all time, The Middle Place and Lift; because she says what motherhood is all about far better than I think I could ever actually say it.

 

Cross-posted from Modern Parent Online