The End of an Era

I’ve sat down to type this several times over the past years, but I never was 100% sure it was the right time. To be honest, I’m still not totally sure this is the right time, and sometimes I think the right time might have already come and gone. But now is a pretty good time.

HapaMama was the brainchild of those early days of motherhood, when I had more ideas than I knew how to make come to fruition. I was fortunate enough to go a playgroup one day and meet a mom named Eddy, who knew how to do graphic design and build websites. The year that my older kid went to kindergarten, we flipped the switch and HapaMama came to life.

This blog has had a lot of ups and downs since then. It led to me getting a job as an editor for BlogHer, commissioned numerous freelance writing assignments, got me on national TV, and many more opportunities. But it’s also brought me some troubles: trolls and online harassment, Internet dust-ups, and other things I’ve probably pushed out of my mind. Since I started this blog, I’ve started to question some of the fundamentals of its existence: should I be writing about family members? Does the practice of blogging stand in the way of bigger, more refined writing projects (such as a book)? and what about the use of the term “hapa” by non-Native Hawaiians?

There are a lot of things that no longer feel right about this blog. But I will always cherish the days of an idea popping into my head while I was driving around in my minivan, and then running home to tap it out on the desktop computer, and hitting “publish” before I could have second thoughts. In many ways, I was my most uninhibited and truest self. I miss that Grace.

I’m typing this while sitting in the breakfast nook of the Hampton Inn, after moving my younger kid to college. A new chapter in my life is starting, one that is not as defined by motherhood, and yet not not-motherhood. It is exciting and scary, and I wish I knew more.

Moving forward, I won’t be posting here anymore. Thank you so much for reading, having great discussions, and supporting HapaMama. Eventually, this site will need some major updates, and it will be time to fully close it down. And I will continue to work toward my book publishing goals. To stay up to date, check my newer website gracehwanglynch.com and follow me on Twitter/X, Instagram, Facebook, or Threads and subscribe to my Small Bites newsletter.

Here’s to the future..