I’m not worthy! Or am I …

Dear Meat & Potatoes of Life reader,

Here’s the thing: I’m totally out of my league. Or at least that’s what goes through my mind when things like this happen to me. Call me whiney, insecure, crazy, certifiable, clinically psychotic with latent violent tendencies, WHATEVER…. but any time other people say I am “good” at something, I panic and think I’m a total fraud.

So, when I got an e-mail from CircleofMoms.com yesterday, indicating that I was nominated for their Top 25 Funny Mom Bloggers for 2013, I got that nervous feeling like my bowels were about to let loose. Thankfully, that did not happen, but I was a little queasy knowing that I’d have to ask people to vote for ME, a talentless, lousy housewife, as Top 25 of anything.

However, there is a deep, dark, dank, moldy, repressed corner of my psyche that thinks that I might actually be worthy. The rest of my mind says I can’t hold a candle to the myriad of other Mom Bloggers out there because they have custom graphics, badges, advertising, Instagram, thousands of social media posts, excess use of alcohol, and cuss words. I don’t have any of that.

But that dark corner reminds me that I’ve got meat and potatoes …

A long time ago, before my brain atrophied from lack of use, before Francis had ear hair, before I had ever lifted a baby up to smell its diaper, I was working as a research attorney at a litigation firm in Monterey, California while my husband was getting his masters at the Naval Postgraduate School. While searching for something in the file room, a senior partner’s son, who was working there for the summer, was jabbering away about his love of Starbucks. I commented that I preferred plain old diner coffee to Starbucks, which I thought tasted a bit burnt. I was not sure if his reply was an insult or a compliment, but it’s something which has always stayed with me:

[Heavy sigh.] “Oh, Lisa, you’re a real meat and potatoes kind of gal.” [Sashays dramatically out of the file room in a semi-huff.]

The ambiguous comment came back to haunt me on many occasions. What did it mean?

It was not until I started writing newspaper columns in 2010 that the comment began to take meaning. I wrote randomly about parenting, marriage, family and military life, and I soon realized that there was a common thread which bound my essays together.

From my first published piece – “Tired, boring, predictable — true marital romance is a gas” (Washington Post, January 23, 2010) – to my latest columns on winter and work outs, everything I’ve written peels back the layers of nonsense to get to the heart of the matter, the essence, what’s really important in life. I realized that, not onlywasI a meat and potatoes kind of gal, I was proud to be one.

So, for now, I’ll listen to the voice in that neglected corner of my brain that says I’m worthy of Circle of Moms’ list of the Top 25 Funny Mom Bloggers of 2013. If you think so too, please click here and cast a vote every day from now until the contest ends on February 13th.

Eternally grateful,

Lisa, a.k.a.,A Real Meat and Potatoes Kind of Gal