One Year Ago Today...

... Confessions of a Home Ec Dropout was born!

I had been planning procrastinating), auditioning names and checking their availability, worrying that I wouldn't be able to master the mechanics of blogging, wondering if I was capable of generating interesting content, thinking I'd be lucky if I got a single reader outside of my own family (and I have small family)... you name it and I was fretting about it.

I had been complaining for months (maybe years) that I didn't feel fulfilled, felt the need to create some body of work that I could call my own, and regretted leaving marketing and writing in pursuit of more money many years ago.

On this day a year ago (a particularly difficult day), Madeline, being the wise 12 year old she was at the time, asked me why I hadn't yet started my blog. "It seems like that it would make you happy - you've been talking about it for so long," she said. I offered excuses, the "best" ones being that I hadn't thought of a good name yet and that I still had no idea how to begin. (Insert the Mommy's Being Mommy Again look here.)

She'd rolled her eyes at every name I'd suggested. But I threw one more out there. "How about Confessions of a Home Ec Dropout?," I asked. "It's not as stupid (maybe she said lame, I can't remember now...) as most of the other names you've come up with so far," she replied. That's it then, I decided. I'm not sure why I could make that choice on that day, and not on any other, but I did.

"Now all I have to do is figure out how to create a blog," I mumbled, turning my attention to some dishes that needed handwashing in the sink while Madeline continued fiddling with the laptop. No more than 15 minutes later, she says "Here you go, Mom. See how easy it was?" She had made her own blog in that short time just to prove her point that "it can't be that hard." I said that I didn't know she wanted to be a blogger. She said, "I don't. But you do. Now let's make yours."

So we did. Right then and right there. And here we are- one year and 145 posts later.

I never dreamed that something that takes this much time and pays next to nothing would be so rewarding! Thanks to Madeline for helping making me do it, and thanks to you for reading.

In case you missed it (only two people didn't!), here's a link to my very first post, which explains why it's called Confessions of a Home Ec Dropout.