living life vs. blogging life ...

When I started blogging five years ago, I did it for myself, I did it for my kids, and I did it to have a way to look back at all the little things I am likely to forget over the years.

I have never written for anyone but myself and my girls. When I say "you" in a post, the "you" I envision is the adult version of my children. I hope that they can go back and read all of my ramblings and have a better appreciation of who I am and why I've made the choices I have. And with the exception of, the now very infrequent, giveaways, my writing is merely a reflection of who I am and a snapshot of the happenings of our days.

Now don't get me wrong, all the perks that have come from writing this blog have been fantastic. The friendships and partnerships are rewarding and the experiences have been life changing. But, none of that has been or ever will be more important than why I started writing. And none of that has ever or will ever affect my "voice".

I do not write for money.
I do not write for product.
I do not write so that others can guest post.
For every brand I rave about, there were a 100 that I never even considered mentioning.
This is not a forum. My views are my views and they are the only ones you'll ever see here.

It is true that over the years the content here has evolved. When I started writing, I focused on my training and the antics of my children. At times, I said "NEVER" and have had to eat my words (as in I'll never do another marathon or I'll never understand why people race longer than a sprint triathlon).

All these years later, my training has become less of a focus. Yes, I mention it here and there and it is a HUGE part of our lives, but I no longer need to obsess over it in my writing. I know myself as an athlete, I know what I can do, and I don't need to rehash every detail. It's just not that important to me anymore.

Then there are my children. Some of my favorite posts are about them, whether it be recaps of their hilarious outtakes or words of wisdom I wish to pass on to them. But as they grow older, it has become increasingly challenging to find a balance of what to share and what to hold back. They are aware I post about them and they are equally aware that it may be embarrassing. Someday, they are going to care enough that I have to stop talking about them all together.

And then there is the fact that now that we are out of the toddler years, we are doing a lot more living life and I have less time to blog life. This summer is the perfect example of this. Since school has been out, we've gone to New Jersey and Baltimore and are leaving in two days for Georgia.

We have taken swim lessons in the mornings and hung out with our friends poolside in the afternoons.

There has been drama and laughter ...

We've studied and read and crafted our way through our days.

Once you add in my training, there isn't a lot of time left to rehash all of the epic moments that are sprinkled through our days. So, it's not that I don't have things to say or stories to tell. It's just no longer that important for me to share every little detail of our lives. I would much rather be out living my days than writing about them. Maybe in the future that will change, but for right now, blogging is taking a backseat to life. And I am perfectly okay with that.