Two Worlds Collide

Today was an amazing day, a day fueled by adrenaline from start to finish. I'm writing surrounded by dirty plates and half-filled wine glasses, a sure sign that I may question these words, their tone and their emotion in the morning.

Since jumping on this wild blogging bandwagon a little over a year ago, I've felt like I've been living two parallel lives. Blogger by night, suburban housewife by day. I walk my kids to the bus, drive them to school, arrange playdates as if nothing had changed. But yet at night I share my thoughts with virtual strangers throughout the world. I discuss ideas with people from a vast variety of socio-economic backgrounds who help me to question my world view and grow. And occasionally, I am invited to dazzling events where I have the opportunity to meet amazing women.

Before I started blogging, I hungered for an identity other than mother. Although I didn't want to relinquish my identity as a stay at home mom, I also yearned to contribute to the family budget. I also wanted some sort of work to call my own, some lasting testament to my existence beyond the ephemeral pleasures of homework assistance and bedtime kisses.

Today my two worlds collided.

A few months ago, I started a morning lecture series with two local friends called the WE Series. WE stands for Women's Empowerment. Our mission was to bring speakers to our town to speak to us as women with intellectual potential. In working to put together this monthly event, I wanted to build a platform to introduce some of the amazing women I was meeting at blogging events to the women in our area. We had no idea whether anyone would be interested in hearing about topics other than better parenting or better decorating, but we've been blown away by the level of enthusiasm.

Today our guest was Tracy Beckerman, author of the syndicated humor column Lost in Suburbia. Tracy not only made us laugh with her stories about life in New Jersey but she also was incredibly inspiring. She walked us through how she got her column published and how she then succeeded in having it syndicated through newspapers throughout the country. I used to always think that people with successful part-time careers just had things fall in their laps through connections or talents they were born with, but Tracy made me realize that all is within reach if you just work and ask for recognition. To borrow the phrase of a good friend of mine, she made me realize that "it is do-able."

If Tracy's column is not syndicated in your town, make sure to check out her new book, Rebel Without a Minivan.

Then tonight I hosted a party at my house with Mom Central. Mom Central had found me through this blog and asked me if I would be interested in hosting an event sponsored by Mirena. As I welcome any opportunity to sit down with some girlfriends with some free food and drink, I was happy to accept. Before the party started, I walked around nervously, terrified that only a couple of people would show up. We're all so busy, and I worried that people would end up skipping a strange commercial-sounding event. But one by one, they rolled in and I began to relax.

We had an amazing evening, talking about sex, fashion, and living a simpler life. I realized that we don't actually spend a lot of time talking about sex and relationships. We laughed a lot but also went home with some great tips. My two take aways are to buy a pair of red heels and to not give my husband vague feedback. Apparently, in husband talk, saying be more helpful is like another language. They want real actionable tasks like "read the kids bedtime stories" or "empty the dishwasher." Who knew?