Evening Song

I love the end of the day. The sun has long since gone down, the lamps are lit. The walls glow in the golden lamplight. The dinner is eaten, the table cleared and scrubbed. The floors are swept, the stove and countertops wiped and washed, quietly clean. The dishwasher hums. Children are bathed and in jammies. Teeth are brushed and shiny. Snacks are packed, lunches are planned, school clothes and shoes are waiting patiently on bedroom chairs for their owners to wriggle or jump into in the morning. My little children are picking out books and ready for stories. My older ones are quietly reading or talking to their father or me. The frantic pace of the afternoon is over. There is nowhere to go, nothing urgent to do, no next task to race to. We can just enjoy our home, our family, our blessings.

Thank you God, for the children in this house, for the walls that shelter us, and for the blessings of evenings here at home.

A Tricky Issue

When I first started this blog I thought that I had plenty to say. In fact, in my real life (IMRL - is that the right blog-speak???) I talk all the time. I talk on the phone, I talk in the van, I even talk in the library (although quietly). I talk to my husband, my mother, my brother, my friends. I talk to teachers, doctors, Scout leaders, anyone who will listen, and because I have four precious children, I spend more time than you might think talking to people who "really really don't want to talk right now!".

My chattering mind talks to itself pretty much all day long and I often find myself saying "I've got to write this down". I also tell myself "This is something I need to explore more in an essay" and "I should blog about this". I love to write almost as much as I love to talk. In fact, one of my not-so-secret ambitions is to be a working, publishing writer.

And when I began, I loved blogging. I could say whatever I wanted, and with the touch of a button I was published to boot!

But pretty soon, I began to run into a thorny problem.

With a blog, I don't get to pick who I'm talking to.

Now, I know at this point the only people who are reading this blog are the ones I already talk to. So I really shouldn't worry. But, the day may come when someone I have never met might stumble across me here at In For A Penny..., and what will I say to them? Do I want them to know my children's names? Probably not. I'd like to respect their privacy, and keep them cyber-safe. How much information about us do I share here on these pages? I'm still working this one out.

I had planned to write a blog about my life as an at-home mother. My life with children, with a husband. With meals that need to be cooked and with a washing machine that needs to be fed regularly. My life as a Catholic and how following that call informs how I answer all the other calls on my time. And now here I am, stumped.

How do you decide what to say when your words in print are not as ephemeral as the spoken word?

How do you get past page-fright?