Note: I have written this and deleted it several times, not having the guts to press "publish." Then my friend Glory at Glory's Mischief wrote THIS. I think it's important that as many people hear this message as possible, so here's mine.
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In case you haven't heard, football season is coming. I've got friends on Facebook who post an update every day on how many days, hours, and minutes there are until kickoff. Friends who spend every single Saturday in the fall absorbed in college football.
I've also got friends who love to draw and paint. They don't make any money on their paintings, but they love to spend time doing it and make things that make them happy.
I could tell my football-loving friends that I think they're wasting all the Saturdays in the very best season of the year--fall--when the weather is not too hot, and not too cold, and the trees are beautiful. They could be out spending time with their kids, or just about anything else that would be a million times more productive than putting so much time into watching a bunch of over-sized, sweaty men chase a ball around a field.
I could tell my friends who love to draw and paint that they're wasting time and money on their art. I could ask why would anyone spend so much time and money making art when they could easily go purchase something similar or better than what they're doing. I mean really, why would anyone EVER spend so much precious time and effort on something that's so easy to buy?
I don't really feel that way about those things. I'm saying it to make a point.
I would
never tell my football-loving friends that I think they're wasting their time watching football games every Saturday. While I don't understand their enthusiasm, I don't mind going to an occasional game. I generally don't care who wins, but I love the atmosphere and the food. It's fun. I don't care to watch games on TV, and I don't understand how some people get SO excited about college football when they've never even gone to that school. And I would NEVER tell an artist at any level that they're wasting their time, money, and effort. I would never look at a piece of art and think, "Gah, they're wasting so much time on this junk! Why don't they just go buy it? Prints from Bed Bath & Beyond are good enough for me!"
Who really cares WHY people chose to spend time on the things they do or HOW they have the time for it if it makes them happy?
So bento is my hobby. And you know what? I work full time. I'm taking two graduate-level classes per semester to get my master's degree. I'm also taking online DAU courses working towards a DAWIA certification. A lot of people would say I really just don't have time for it. It would be a lot easier and time efficient for me just to pay $5 per day and let him eat hot lunches at school. BUT, I enjoy it. It's fun for me, it's fun for Jacob, and hopefully one day when he is older, it will be a good memory for him. Plus, while my lunches do tend to be "fruit heavy," he's getting a lot more nutrition than if he were eating fish sticks and french fries at school.
Contrary to popular belief, I (
and other bento bloggers I know) don't make bento lunches and put them on the Internet to make myself look like a better parent OR make other moms feel inferior. If you feel that way, it's not my intent. I blog because 1) it's fun for me, and 2) I feel like if I can do something, anyone can. If I can inspire another busy mom to feed her kid healthy food instead of cheetos and soda, I feel like the time it takes to keep this blog up is worth it.
I make time for bento because I like to do it, just like anyone else makes time for whatever hobby they enjoy. So the next time you see a cute bento lunch on the Internet and just can't understand how or why anyone would put so much time and effort into lunch, before you decide to leave some snarky comment about how "someone's got too much time on their hands," just know that there is a REAL person with a REAL life behind that picture. Someone
made the time to do something--that's really a lot easier than you think--for someone they love.
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