Accountability

My son curls up next to me to read, and he asks, "Have you done your blog yet?"
 
"No," I answer, "but I'll think of what to write about, and if necessary, I'll write it in the morning."
 
As he has expected, I'm sure, I am asleep before I've even strung two sentences of an idea together.
 
One of the great things about kids is that, if you let them, they know you pretty well. Another of the great (and, okay, sometimes not so great) things about kids is that they hold you accountable. They remind you--over and over--that everyone else's parent will be at Family Friday. They remind you that you still haven't bought them that electronic gizmo that they still want and you said (did you really?) you would. They stand next to you until you feed them what they perceive to be a real dinner (cereal is not dinner food).
 
We are all accountable in one way or another--to our bosses or to our friends, to our parents or to the IRS. Accountability is a big pain sometimes. But when we make a commitment to ourselves (say, this blog), accountability becomes more like encouragement. For me, every time I talk to someone who reads the blog, I am accountable. For me, every time I see the growing number of posts or the growing number of views, I am accountable. And every time I feel how I do writing a new one, I am accountable. What's special about this accountability is that it is ultimately to myself. I may love that people read, and that once in a while, I provide a thought or a laugh that helps their day, but in the end, I am doing right by a commitment I made to myself. And accountability for that--no matter where it comes from, is always appreciated.