Here's my first post for this site. I've posted elsewhere, but just never felt comfortable with the format. So here I am.

As I mention in my profile, my motivation for creating this blog is a deep loneliness I've been feeling lately. I have three children, two of whom are teenagers, and we used to talk about everything. Now, they're all growing away from me, esp. the older two. The youngest is still my boy, but he's always been more active and outgoing than the others anyway. I grieve most for the loss of the special bond I used to share with my oldest son. Don't get me wrong: I want him to go out and become his own man. I'm giving him his space. Still, I miss all the great conversations we used to have about books and music and movies and just about everything; he has always shared many of my interests. Lately, though, his taste in music has changed and he doesn't really want to discuss books and questions of philosophy with me; he wants to spend time with his friends.

My daughter and I have also always been pretty close, though in very different ways. She doesn't share my interest in books and such, but we've always found things like music and movies and boys to talk about. Now she'd rather hang out with the boys than talk about them--wow, that's scary!

I've been a mother half my life, since I was 17 myself, and I am lucky to have such great kids. I guess it's just time to find out what else and who else I am.