Party of One

Happy Birthday Mothers of Brothers!  You are three years old today and anyone who has ever been a parent knows full well that the “terrible twos” have nothing on the “dreadful threes.”  It is one of those unspoken secrets that we parents fail to share with one another as we move through life.  By keeping younger parents in the dark, we can watch in delight as they unknowingly breathe a huge sigh of relief on their child’s third birthday – thinking that they made it through the toughest part of toddlerhood, only to be seen clenching hard and running fast for the remainder of the year.  Heh Heh.

I hope the “dreadful threes” does not hold true for blogs because, if you haven’t heard the news, I just became a single parent.  As of Friday, my dear writing partner Jennifer has taken leave. 

So here I am.  Throwing a 3 year old blog birthday party.  By myself.  This is the part where, in a stunning show of self-pity, I break into my finest rendition of Cosette in Les Mis.

Okay – so maybe a little over the top. Let’s try this:

In a stunning show of self-absorption, this is the part where I interview myself about the future at MoB:

Me:   So, Emily, how do you feel about Jennifer’s departure?

Me:  I am feeling rather sad because we did so much and it worked so well.  The commitment to daily blogging was never easy but the commitment to Jennifer certainly was.  We almost never spoke.  Seriously.  If we had more than six face-to-face meetings in three years, that might be overstating it.  It just worked.  We complemented each other well. A marriage of sorts – that never got old.  At least for, uh, me.

Me:  Are you bitter?

Me:  Not at all.  I get it.  I, too, have had moments when I thought about all the other things I could do with the time I spend blogging.  But then I would have to admit that I would probably just squander it.  Still, I completely understand and respect Jennifer’s decision.  You have to be a little bit crazy to commit to writing several times a week – every week – for three years straight — at a high enough level to draw readers in and keep them.  For no money.  Or fame.  Or free stuff.  Its an emotional and spiritual treadmill that never stops, except when the website breaks down and you have nowhere to post, causing heart palpitations of apoplectic proportions as you slowly watch your readers slip away…… So…. who wants to join me?

Me: That brings me to my next question.  What the hellz are you going to do?

Me:  I honestly do not know.  I am definitely sticking around.  I have a 20 year contract with GoDaddy for the URL and two sons about to go through puberty.  I plan to use both assets shamelessly. But seriously,  I would love to share this space with some other great writers.  The question is whether to expand the MoB brand to include writers who are not actually “mothers of brothers.”  Doing so would certainly increase the universe of qualified candidates.  So, this past weekend I played around with some name extensions.

Any of these could work.  I think I’ll wait to see what transpires and go from there.

Me:  So what can readers expect in the immediate future and over the long run?

Me:  Great things.  I am reaching out to some of my writing friends to share their best work.  Ultimately, it would be great to have another writer like Jennifer who can commit to original pieces a few times a week.  It is indeed a commitment so I’m not going to rush into anything.  I’ll test some folks out and they’ll test me.  Suddenly I feel a little like Kelly Ripa except for the size zero, blond hair and bijillion dollar bank account thing.  But I know my Regis is out there somewhere.  So MoB readers will continue to hear from me and they can also expect to see some new names.  I’m planning to stick to the same Monday / Wednesday / Friday posting schedule.

Me:  Wow. You really have it all together.  I’m completely impressed with the fact that you are not in the fetal position sucking your thumb.

Me:  Wow, you really don’t know me that well.  But thanks – it means a lot coming from you. I feel really grateful for the time I blogged with Jennifer and am looking forward to the next chapter.