Hi everyone. It’s me again. Taking time out of your very busy day to distract you with my musings. I’m so grateful you’ve landed here so I want to run a little something by you. What if I were trying to make a real go of this blogging thing? Sure, it’s a hobby now, a satisfying catharsis for my ideas about travel and motherhood and the professoriate. But would you be okay if we made this official? For example, would you subscribe to this blog for email updates or follow me on Instagram or Facebook? Would you take our relationship one step further and pin my stuff to your Pinterest boards?
I would be grateful if you would because I’d like to see where this could go. It’s really simple: just click those little icons over to the right of this text, and viola, we’re hooked up! (Also @beingbonmot if you’re more into searching.) If you’re here because we’re already going steady, thank you – our relationship is very important to me. (None of that Hannah Brown “This is why you don’t date two guys!” Bachelorette nonsense for me.)
In May, I promised to pledge $1 for every like, follow, etc. I received that month (my birthday month, no coincidence) to Bonton Farms in Dallas (see the original post here). I did increase my social media presence and subscriptions, but I fell short of my goal of 250. I’m so grateful for my friends, new and old. I always encourage my students to acknowledge shortcomings, especially in my fundraising class, so I want to be honest about the results of my efforts. I have learned so much from this experience already, and I genuinely want to connect my work here with causes I believe in. (More on this follow up very soon…)
My ultimate motivation is to grow in my connection with you, the reader, who should be doing something much more important than perusing this post. And thank you for that. I’d like this relatively tiny ripple of a site to begin to make waves big enough to surf on. I don’t have Ashton Kutcher/Kim Kardashian delusions here, but I wouldn’t be offended by a little more traffic. I’m simply putting it out there to see if there’s something to this whole ‘vision casting’ thing.
Listen, I don’t plan to quit my day job. That’s why I’m working on growth over the summer before I’m back in the classroom and in the thick of the motherhood juggle. As such, you might see more of me and Being Bon Mot for a little while. Thankfully this fossil has figured out how to schedule blog posts into the future, so look out!
I hope you like this work so far. And I hope you’ll take the time to comment and share and invite your real-life friends to follow Being Bon Mot. Sometimes I feel like I’m a bit all over the place with content. It’s reflective of the multiple identities I’m unapologetic for – mother, professor, wife, explorer, cynic, nerd – you get the picture. I’d love your feedback on the posts you read and ideas about what you’d like to see more of.
Those who know me know I am content with my small life here in Texas. I am happily married. I have two healthy, vibrant kids. And I happen to like my job (95% of the time – grading papers really sucks). But I’m also a woman in my early 40’s trying to steer clear of a midlife crisis. I have a voice and perspective that’s a little different than most bloggers out there. So I’m trying to represent myself and my experiences because I think there is as much of a need for people to exhibit real life as there is for representing lifestyle.
I have been known to refer to myself as a blogging dinosaur. And I am. Less than 20% of all bloggers are between the ages of 36 and 50. I’m clearly in the minority. My hope is that, once dusted off a bit, these old bones will reveal a meaningful construct for women, moms, nonprofit observers, and bon mot consorts. In other words, I have Tyrannosaurus Rex-sized ambitions and plan to stretch these tiny arms as far as I can.
I am sincerely grateful for your interest in the blog. If you like what you read, I hope you’ll follow and subscribe to keep up with the latest prehistoric news! Meanwhile I’ll keep the travel tips, mom hacks, and nonprofit sector observations coming until the big meteor hits**.
Nerd Alert!
** The leading theory explaining the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs is known as the Alvarez Hypothesis. It postulates that a giant meteor hit the Earth about 66 million years ago, perilously altering the atmospheric climate and wiping out the population of terrestrial reptiles. You can read more about it here.
