I love Jill Smokler’s blog, Scary Mommy. On any given day, I can laugh along with all of her under-current comments, and look forward to receiving her posts.
Today, I took umbrage with http://www.scarymommy.com/google-analytics, which began with the statement: “People are weird.” And ended with, “I’m 64 and think I’m pregnant. Um, congrats?”
So, I sat with this for a while, and read it again. I reread it a few more times and then privately wrote her. She suggested I post my comments on her site. They are as follows:
Cyma August 11, 2011 at 9:30 am
I usually read your daily posts and chuckle. However, today, your comment about pregnant women @ 64 touched a nerve. As the writer and creator of NURTURE: Stories of New Midlife Mothers, the website http://www.MotheringintheMiddle.com, and several other entities designed to support women choosing motherhood over 40, I wanted to bring more awareness to your comment. Understanding that you are younger than I am and that all comments reflect the writer’s perspective, several of the women in my projects have indeed chosen motherhood in their late 50′s and early 60′s. As a new older mother, I am here to bring societal awareness to women’s ability in the 21st century to make a myriad of life choices (esp. regarding motherhood) irrelevant of age. Thanks for the opportunity to express this point of view!
Perhaps, in 10 years, we will all laugh at the idea of (this group of) new older mothers having/getting children with the same spirit that we laugh at old people needing glasses. Perhaps one will become synonymous with the other. Until that time, I aim to keep providing this perspective whenever I can.