To blog or not to blog: that is the question. Until today, I have been one of the few holdouts in my circle of friends who has shied away from Blogger, Facebook, and MySpace, preferring instead to linger on the outskirts of blogdom and observe what happens there. Over time, I’ve developed a series of reasons not to blog, which I present to you now for your reading pleasure (that means you, Mom, and maybe the one other random person who lands here by the whim of the Google search engine):

1. I am afraid my identity will be stolen. Seeing as blogging requires you to publish your last name, address, social security number, blood type, and favorite ice cream flavor, this could actually happen. As a precaution, I will limit my disclosures to the following: mint chocolate chip.

2. I do not have time. This is actually a pretty good excuse. I currently have two part-time jobs on top of my full-time job as Mommy. But I swore I’d find an outlet for myself that doesn’t require a spa membership or airline travel, so here we are.

3. I am holding out for a publishing contract. Cough. Sputter. Cough. The reality is, most of my stories don’t even make it from the random musings of my subconscious in the Target diaper aisle to the pages of my journal. Since writing begets writing, I will grudgingly admit that blogging might just be a way to exercise some creative muscle. Kind of like “Buns of Steel” for the aspiring essayist.

4. No one cares what I think, anyway. Ouch. I mean really, that was just unnecessary. True, it would be self-indulgent to assume that anyone (besides you, Mom) is really that interested in my ramblings on motherhood, marriage, and world peace. But last time I checked, Blogger is free, so it’s a cheap way to entertain myself and post a ridiculous number of pictures of my adorable son.

So it is with reluctance, and perhaps just a hint of inspiration and gratitude for the many blogs that have amused and uplifted me in recent months, that I embark on this project. If you happened to make it all the way to the end of this post, congratulations. And welcome. It’s going to be an interesting little stroll down the diaper aisle.