Three years ago, on the day Ian turned 17, we launched Mothers of Brothers.
Today, 48 hours before Ian turns 20, I am bowing out. The timing just happens to work out to very neatly span three years, and has absolutely nothing to do with Ian per se.
Fortunately, the blog will continue with Emily at the helm. I may tag back in once in a while, at Emily’s generous suggestion. She has not had much time to adjust to this new reality – only a few days – but was very gracious when I told her that I was burning out on our joint project, and that my inspiration was flagging as my stress over what the heck to write was rising.
In the middle of May 2011, I can look back and say this adventure with Emily has been a ton of fun. I’ve loved sharing my life and times with you – gaining new friends, reconnecting with old friends, documenting our daily life. You’ve cheered us on through our Big Birthdays and through Emily’s Triathlon training, and sent condolences on our losses – most notably that of my dear friend Carol.
When this blog began, I was the third tallest person in the house, with the third deepest voice. Now I am in fifth place on both counts. When the home phone rings, nobody ever says to Hugh or Malcolm anymore, “Jennifer?”
Like my sons, the blog has grown and matured as well. During one of our early planning meetings in the Helen Kate Furness Library, Emily searched online for a web designer, and found a guy in Mumbai. Based on decent seeming credentials and a decent price and a couple of emails, we hired him.
The product he gave us worked fine, for a while. But then, disaster. Some of you might remember the great crash of 2010, just after Easter, when it became impossible to leave a comment, and all kinds of crazy things were going wrong in the MOB backroom. Something had gone kaflooey, but we had no idea what. The site was down for days.
To the rescue came Marj, a web guru out of San Diego found by Emily. Marj migrated our site to Word Press, gave us new passwords, and sorted out the tangled mess that we had dumped in her lap. I hope it’s not tempting fate to say that the blog has operated smoothly ever since.
We have written zany posts, serious posts, things that made us laugh, things that made us cringe, things that made us cry. For a couple of writers, it’s been the ultimate joy – getting published at the push of a button! No groveling to editors. No making triplicate copies. No re-writing at the behest of another.
Also, to be brutally honest, one of the best things about this blog was its efficiency. Rather than send giant group emails, or tell each person in my life the same anecdote over and over, everyone got the same information at the same time.
I will miss that. I will miss you. Thanks for reading Mothers of Brothers.
