A Title

I was thinking of my blog today and what part of me it shows.  I have never had an agenda with my blog; no specific audience, no goals, or anything like that.  I just really enjoyed reading my friend’s blog, and thought it would be fun to do my own. 

But, I am the author of my blog, so naturally – some part of my personality shows through.  Whether I want it to or not, it makes some kind of statement about me.  So I was wondering today, what does my blog tell about me – is it what I want to be putting forth?

Probably the only thing that I have tried to be purposeful about is being honest.  I knew from day one (when I wrote that my husband was “serious” and he highly objected it) that I was not going to have everyone’s agreement on what is “true” about my life.  But I do want to be honest about what is happening, what my thoughts are, and how I am feeling.

I will admit to a little artistic license in some of the blogs (for instance, in the Scotland Elcho Castle entry, a fair maiden did not actually enter any kingdom nor was she immediately loved by all of the knights.  In fact, the youngest knight was not sure if he even recognized the fair maiden, and had to be persuaded it was indeed me…)  But I hope that my readers will forgive such necessities for good storytelling and be satisfied to know that all quotes are exact to the very best of my knowledge.  And I try not to embellish stories.    I tell the stories in the way (I see) them happen, and I try not to put forth something  because I think it will show me or my family in a certain light.

But in addition to being honest, is there something about me that I want the blog to show?

One of the things that I really like about myself is that I can usually look on the bright side of something.  Your toy broke?  We can find a way to fix it!  The bananas are overripe?  Let’s make banana bread! It’s raining?  Lets go on a Puddle Hunt!

And as I was thinking about my blog today, I realized that I hope that part of me comes through in my writing.  And I didn’t get much further than that thought, when I noticed my title.  My blog is titled, Three Steps Forward, Two Steps Back.  “Yikes,” I thought, “ Isn’t that a little big negative?!?”  And I began to worry. “ Will people get the impression that I am looking at life mostly as a struggle?  Isn’t this a focus on the negative part of the journey?  Will people think I am not satisfied with my life?”

Then I thought, “If I take three steps forward, and two steps back, I will still be taking those five steps with my family.  And, if I take three steps forward, and two back, then that must mean that I have the opportunity to fix a mistake I made.”

I ridiculously felt much better, then smiled at myself, because at least those thoughts meant that my “look on the bright side” gene had kicked in. (even if it meant an enormous stretch of imagination on my part.)

I finally decided that I was spending far too much time analyzing the title of my blog.  Sorry about that.

But, if you must think about the title of the blog…um, could you think of it in one of the latter interpretations?