Sssh... I'm trying to watch my stories here

On the motherhood totem pole of the infamous mommy wars, there are lots of different types of mothers. Depending on your perspective, the positions may differ somewhat; some put the stay at home moms way up top, others think that working moms deserve that place of honor and still others reserve the top slot for the work at home moms or the part time working moms or the fill-in-the-blank-here moms. Nearly without fail, however, the same group is almost always down at the bottom, and that is the bon-bon eating, soap opera watching mommies.

For all I know, the whole soap opera mommy category might be a fallacy. Perhaps they don't even really exist. But it is that image -- however fictional -- of women sitting around watching their stories while children run amuck around them that give stay at home moms a bad name. Most mothers at home with their kids, myself included, are quick to point out that we are in a different category than that type of mom. We are home to raise our kids to the best of our abilities, we proclaim haughtily, not to sit around eating confections that everyone has heard of but few of us have ever even actually seen. I have always been more than a little disdainful of the soap opera mommies. At least, I used to be. But now I'm not so sure. Because lately, I'm beginning to think that I might be living in a bit of a glass house here.

Nearly every day, after Evan has gone down for a nap and Julia has disappeared into her room for quiet time, I carve out some time to get online and catch up on my blog reading. It's the "me time" part of my day, and by the time it rolls around, I've usually got some burning questions I want answered before the kids get up. How was Rosemary's third date? How is Gretchen weathering the postpartum blues? Did A sleep last night? Where are Jordan and Dan jet setting to this week? How will Jenn make me laugh today? Will I see myself in Kristy's world today, or in Jennifer's or Steph's? I am addicted to blog reading, to these short, serialized daily installments chronicling the lives of people whom I don't even know but have come to care about.

Short, serialized daily installments? Yikes.

The writing is better, of course, and the drama rings truer than that which I'd find if I switched on my TV instead of my laptop. But the activity itself, the escape from my own world into the lives of other people and the resulting urge to tune in tomorrow to find out what happens next? Well, hell... maybe I ought to give bon bons a fair shake, too.