Kindred Spirits?

If you are one of the bloggers on my list or if you have clicked on their posts, you may have smiled at my use of the term "kindred spirits". There have certainly been days when it made me chuckle a bit. We don't always see eye to eye on most issues, to put it mildly.

I am passionate about gentle discipline, some are very pro-spanking. I prefer child-led weaning, some are appalled at the idea of nursing a four year old. I am very happy that Obama is our next president, some are very disappointed. I love junk food, some are very careful about nutrition. House keeping is very low on my list of priorities, some keep their homes immaculate. My faith is at the core of who I am, some are atheists or pagan. I love steak, some are vegetarian. They use proper punctuation, and I often don't. I could go on and on citing our differences, both trivial and important. It is also likely that many of the issues I consider important are pretty minor to them and that some things I dismiss easily go much deeper for them. And of course, most of the time many will fall somewhere in the middle.

So why do I consider us kindred spirits? At the risk of dissolving into a syrupy, happy-flower-kitty-land post, it is all about love and acceptance. I think that we all share a deep and abiding love for our families, a desire to help our children grow into loving and disciplined people who will make this world a better place. The ladies whose blogs are listed are intelligent and thoughtful. They look penetratingly at issues and at themselves. They inspire me to grow. They have graciously accepted me, despite things that probably prompt some inward eye-rolling and maybe even provoke some challenging comments. They are the kind of people that I want to keep in my life. Besides, even Anne and Diana disagreed at times (particularly on baking powder advertisements).