Remaining anonymous
Ever since the arrival of our yougest son I’ve been reconsidering my decision to write this blog anonymously. This was especially true today as we went on a short trip to register his birth and legally confirm his name.
One of the potential advantages in ‘coming out’ would be to use my sons’ real names and avoid refering to them with phrases such as “my oldest boy” or “our little boy”. An alternative I’ve considered is using their middle names, but that just feels worse somehow.
For now though I have decided to maintain my anonymity. The main reason for this is that I want to be able to continue to write freely about our experiences and express my thoughts about difficult issues without upsetting my family.
The other reason is that I want to stay true to the reasons that I started this blog in the first place. From the outset this was meant to be a blog about Down’s syndrome, rather than a blog about my family.
We didn’t start a blog about my first son when he was born and as can be seen from the “Day One” entry in Waking up in Illinois, this story did not begin with mt son’s conception or his birth but the confirmation that he Down’s syndrome.
So for now at least, I’ll be remaining anonymous.
I totally understand that need/desire to be anonymous… as there are times on my own blog (written under a pseudonym) that I think a little too much about what someone who knows me might think about whatever it is I need to put out there in the world. And I often think about starting a new and different blog where I can really let ‘er rip. But it’s pretty few and far between when it actually comes down to it.
But at the same time, not being anonymous definitely helps me sometimes– and I think, helps my boy. It makes me realize that the world and the people in it are not necessarily as mean and scary as I think they might be. And that it’s okay to piss some people off and to maybe risk some hurt feelings, because it also helps to put an actual personal face on some of this shite that we as parents — both of typical and DS kids — are going through.
Okay, before I get even more incoherent and long-winded, here endeth the comment. But I’ll be reading, anonymous or no.
jonashpdx
October 9, 2008 at 4:50 am
Thanks jonashpdx (or whatever your name is). One of the reasons I would “come out” is to put a personal face on our experiences. I can certainly see the value in that and think that it is probably likely I’ll drop the anonymity at some stage.
welcometoillinois
October 9, 2008 at 6:28 am