Martha Stewart's daughter, Alexis is all over internet news with tidbits from her upcoming book; Whateverland: Learning to Live Here
It's the stuff news gossip is made for- kind of sad, kind of titillating.
After wincing over it (as a mother, how could I not wince?) I was struck with the warning buried within for mommy bloggers.
Alexis writes about growing up in a home where she was left to fend for herself while her mother tended her crafting empire, about a house filled with culinary cooking ingredients, but rarely actually prepared food for eating. A lack of themed parties and celebrations in her real life.
I'm struck by the possibilities of awful parallels in our own mommy- blogger lives. Beware of a life lived largely online...of beautiful crafts and art projects done only for the post, of perfectly cleaned home -beauty- spots while the rest of the house {off camera} -is deep in mess.
{Beware of living for the photo opp and missing the glorious boring everyday}
The sad headlines warn me to make sure to enjoy the moment, and celebrate my family- not my social networking opportunities.
I don't know the truth behind the tantalizing book excerpt (and I highly suspect the book of being more parody than hurtful truth-she dedicated the book to her mom and is still part of Martha Stewart's media empire, it seems...) however,
I still think a reminder to be real -offline as well as online-
{is a good thing}
for all of us.