Continuing with the clarifications for the blog post I made back in June 2009, allow me to deal with 2 more cryptic (and somewhat snobbish) statements:
Now, it’s not so much that I didn’t want to share and as I mentioned before, now I am thinking that my exposing myself somewhat is going to help me and maybe help someone else too. And frankly, if what I’ve experienced helps one other person out there, that would make me feel like I have accomplished something.
There are still some subjects that I don’t feel are fit for airplay, and you will pardon me if I don’t blog about every tiny detail of my life now. I really don’t think you need to hear about the number of baths I take per day winter AND summer. Really, I was referring to my new life and status as a military spouse and all that entails. It’s a job, you know – in case you were wondering about it. 
In fact, there is a well-known saying that the military spouse job is the hardest job in the military. Each branch takes it and brands it for themselves (e.g. I have a mug – see image – that says “Army Wife – toughest job in the army”), but the message is essentially the same.
When I lived in Kingston, Jamaica and worked for Digicel Jamaica, there were some aspects that I hid, yet I wrote about them just the same and there were people who were armed with the right information and who could guess at the facts behind the vague references. In fact, I once had someone email me asking whether the job I had and that I spoke about was at Digicel and did I know someone-or-other …
When I got married, I realized that my life wasn’t mine to blog about with freedom anymore. It was now our life and he owned just as much of this life as I did. That made my blog not about me anymore but about us and I wasn’t ready to expose that. Now that we’ve been married for a year, and I’ve had a chance to experience some of this life, I realize that there are still somethings I can blog about that will leave our life intact and safe.
Furthermore, blogging will help people understand my life as it is now – and that trumps the second statement; while there is a vacuum now, I can attempt to bridge it. One morning, as I sat here at this desk doing what I do, a friend popped up on IM and said simply:
[name-removed-for-privacy-purposes]: Thank you
[name-removed-for-privacy-purposes]: blogpost
It took me a minute to figure out what he was referring to… but it didn’t matter in the end. He was thanking me for the chance to have better insight into the “new me”. As it turns out, he wasn’t referring so much to one particular post as to the tone that my blog had taken over time.
I got very good reviews about the relationship post as well as the friendship post … so clearly all the lessons I’ve learned are helping other people in their lives. The army posts have also yielded positive feedback offline. People are grateful for the view into my life so they can better understand the issues I now deal with and how they are different from the usual issues.
Indeed, blogging is helping me, helping my friends … my readers. Already I am feeling as if the decision to continue with a new direction is met with approval.
Want to hear about something specific? Don’t be afraid to ask – that’s what the comments are for … or if you’re feeling shy, send me an email at fyrfli at gmail dot com with your request.
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