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Older.

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It’s not Sunday, but I feel compelled to blog. Here ’tis folk – (sits a little straighter) – I’m an “older” Mum.

What does that mean? That means I’m around 10 years older than all the other Mums sitting patiently around the edges of the scout hall watching their tiny-tutu’d daughters prance about after demonstrating ‘first position’. It means I’ve been asked if I’m my daughter’s grandmother (I mean, really? Get a clue people!). It means that whilst other Mums are talking about planning for and/or managing their second, third or even fourth babies, I’m planning for and/or managing my second, third or fourth hot flush for the day, usually by choosing seats near windows or air-conditioners.

And my daughter? She doesn’t know any differently. I’m just Mum. And that, my friends, is what often saves this little black duck from feeling very low. In the words of Maurice Chevalier (albeit a little creepy in this day and age) – thank heaven for little girls.

And no – I wasn’t born when that song was written. Just saying.

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Let’s begin.

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I’ve never tried tackling a blog before. I’m wondering if my mental meanderings should really be shared or not. OK – here’s the jump.

I was an avid diary-writer in my angst-ridden teenage years, but the business of life has taken over. I even tried maintaining a diary for my daughter, starting after she was born. There’s great entries in the early months; while she slept I filled the hours with e-shopping, house-tidying and diarising. They lessen a little in Year 1 thru’ 2, when life became more hectic (Cue movie title: ‘She walks’). I still add to her diary every now and again, but mostly the new entries are written in my head and never make it to the page. Ho hum, bad Mum.

Today however, I’ve been inspired. Perhaps it was a recent social media course (wordpress? really? how cool is this?). Maybe even the little glimpses of creativity, something exciting niggling at the corners of my intellect, not quite realised….quickly followed by wishing I was an artist, rather than someone who simply has a deep appreciation for same. Maybe even the emerging photographer in me (seem to be doing OK, well, I like my shots). Whatever. I’ve had what I would term ‘a moment’.

Sunday is a day where, come about 4pm, that ‘Sunday feeling’ kicks in. Relaxed, laid back, deeply appreciative of having had two days off work – followed by the lacklustre realisation that it’s also “the end” of said days off. Acknowledgement that Monday brings work commitments, routine and…..well…life in all its glorious extremes, chaos and predictability.

So I got to thinking – surely I’m not the only one who feels that bittersweet Sunday thing? Surely it happens all over the world?

The other notion that’s been capping my thought-full head is about connectedness. Probably another hangover of the social media course, but still – it’s exciting to consider how easily we can connect across our little planet. Facebook offers me stories and updates from family and friends. We share photos, stories of nights out, great new cafes to visit. Twitter is bigger. It’s knowing the instant thoughts of people everywhere, whoever you choose to listen to. I had to pursue both these avenues for work, and so started my own experience first. I was already converted to facebook, but not to twitter. I opened an account and was immediately stumped. Who do I ‘follow’? Friends? Already do. I’m happy with facebook. Politicians? not so interested. Aah, I’ll go the celebrity route. I started with a show I was watching at the time (for those interested – New Girl) and subscribed to some of its actors and the show’s twitter account itself. I found it quite bizarre to hear the immediate thoughts of people on another continent! Weird, even. A lot of it was show-promo, but every now and again I’d get a glimpse of what another human being was doing in their everyday life (dogs, gardening, art, jokes, music). Eventually I figured out the whole process and now I’m hooked.

This seems like a good time to reveal something else about me. I don’t consider myself a great socialiser. I like books more often than people, but that’s probably more to do with my own perceived inadequacies than other human beings. However, I am extremely interested IN other people. What they do, how they think, how they act. I find it very inspiring. But here’s my dilemma. I’m in Newcastle, NSW, Australia. I work, as does my partner, the lovely Martin. We have a big mortgage – we ain’t goin’ nowhere, not anytime soon. We have a 3 year old fairy princess, Belle, and Martin has a 10 year old son, Ewan. Life is currently driven by our glorious family, who I adore and love to bits. But I also feel this need to be inspired by people beyond what I know, by other walks of life, other day-to-day routines, to document, to share and “create content”. That, I believe, is at the heart of my brain-niggle.

So, back to the Sunday musings. How to connect? The platform is there, but what’s the thing we all have in common? I wondered if there was someone just like me thinking the same thing somewhere else in the world, on their Sunday afternoon. And then it hit me – all those other people, around the world, experiencing something, at 4pm on their Sundays. A day, a time, shared. What is everyone….doing? And what if I could use social media in a way to create content and connectedness by getting everyone, anyone, anywhere, to share what they’re doing at 4pm on their Sunday?

I’m going to let this idea mull around for the next week. Stew, ferment and hopefully – develop. This is something I want to do.

Me? I was in my kitchen listening to music, chopping tomatoes, spanish onion and home-grown basil for dinner. And I was creating content.