The Silent "I"

NaBloPoMo One Mo Time

I signed up again for NaBloPoMo this year.  For the uninitiated, that's the National Blog Posting Month, started last year by Eden Kennedy of Fussy.  This year, it's way bigger, and there is even a social networking thing on Ning.  If you're a NaBloPoMo-er, you can sign up for different groups and post things and keep track of how your friends are doing.

Last year, I completed it and even won a prize.  I completed it, despite the unexpected, untimely death of my father-in-law, and despite some random holidays thrown in there.  I completed it, but failed to write our annual Christmas letter to friends.  After Grandpa Jim passed, we weren't much in a holiday spirit, you know?  I think this year, the Christmas letter will probably be posted on the blog, to save all those trees, reduce the carbon footprint, and all that. 

Also, the wonderful JenX of One Plus Two awarded me a Perfect Post Award for October for my post called "Why Poverty Matters." I'm particularly honored to receive this from Jen, who is a great writer and a humanitarian as well.  Thanks, Jen!

Our MOMocrats blog is flourishing, and so I suspect when I'll be cross-posting some here and there during the month of November.  I missed the debates Tuesday night because I was too busy worrying why the house was shaking, but I have on good authority that our guy John Edwards kicked some butt and took names. It's about time. 

Happy NaBloPoMo, people!  Let the posting begin!

January Perfect Post Award: Beth B

  This month, I awarded the fabulous Beth B of the Silicon Valley Mom's Blog a Perfect Post Award for her posting, "Falling in Duck Ponds and Other Logical Consequences."    As a mom of one rambunctious, lively boy, I can only fall to the ground and worship at the altar of a mom with not one, but three boys, including four-year old twins.   Someone once told me that, "there's a special place in heaven for a mom of three boys." 

I found Beth's posting to be hilarious, and so true. She describes a pretty typical outing for most parents, a trip to see the ducks at our local duck pond.  I've often wondered how different life might be if Alex had been a girl.  I don't wish for for him to be anyone other than who he is, but it is sometimes fun to wonder about life with a little girl in tow.  Beth muses about what it would be like to take a little girl to the duck pond:

They like to look at the pretty ducks and flowers. They listen to their moms and don't get too close to the edge because it looks dirty in the pond. In fact, they are too afraid to get close so they admire the ducks from afar - they would not want duck poop on their adorable shoes. When they get home they are so inspired that they draw pictures of ducks and flowers for hours while mom cooks a gourmet dinner. Life is beautiful.

I have it on good authority from moms of girls, that this is not always the case, but hey, a mom can dream, can't she?

Then, Beth snaps back to that alternative universe known as "boy reality," in which any number of things can (and do) go wrong.

While Mom is helping one boy get a stick, one of the other boys (a 4 year old) decides to reach for a leaf in the duck pond....... And falls in....... And Mom sees boy in the duck poop pond with water quickly approaching to above his nose. With one arm, mom has the strength to lift boy out of the pond. Boy is very wet, cold and crying. The other boys are in shock.

After fishing the boy out of the pond, Beth goes and changes the duck poop-covered boy into clothes in her emergency stash of clothes in the car.  Long before your son hits the Boy Scout age, a mom of boys knows that the first rule of mothering boys is "Be Prepared."  The second tenet of mothering boys (or mothering in general) seems to be "Keep your sense of humor intact."   Beth does both, beautifully.

Congratulations, Beth, on your perfectly hilarious and oh-so-true January Perfect Post!  You're an inspiration to moms everywhere. 

For a complete list of January winners, go to Suburban Turmoil and Petroville!

November Perfect Post Award: Dante's Inferno with Children

This month, I nominated one of my NaBloPoMo compatriots, Dante's Inferno with Children:  A Travelogue, for the November Perfect Post Award, for her posting "Between and Alone."   It is fictional vignette about a young boy being raised by his mother and aunt, and his acceptance of his role as "outsider" in the family and in life.  It's a poignant, skillfully crafted little character sketch of a young boy.

Behind the sofa,
under the stairs,
in the old wood shed,
in the rotten attic.

These were the places he sought refuge. Sometimes sleeping, often reading, or making up his own stories. At nine years old he was good at finding places to be "out of the way". It didn't take much to entertain him, and besides he loved reading best of all anyway.

There was something about the boy in this story that resonated with me, particularly this opening description.  When I was a child, I would often run off and hide with a book, stay up late with a flashlight under the covers to finish one more chapter of  The Count of Monte Cristo or Oliver Twist. For some reason, that's the type of book I imagined this boy reading, some classic tale of adventure, and not, say, Captain Underpants.   

Back before I had Alex and long before I started blogging, I used to read a good deal of fiction.  The authors I love most are the ones that give you a peek into the interior life of a character, what shapes his thinking, and how perceptions shape the reality around you.  This piece does that, and draws you into the world of the boy with a great deal of pathos and affection.  She did an artful job of bringing this character to life.

One of the things I really enjoyed about NaBloPoMo was the NaBloPoMo Randomizer.  It was a great way to waste time entertain myself and find inspiration when I felt like I just didn't have another thing to say...about anything. Coming up with something to write about every day was harder than I thought it would be.  Another great thing was being introduced to bloggers who I might not have found otherwise.  That's how I found Dante's Inferno with Children, and I'm so glad I did.

Many thanks to Liesel of Dante's Inferno for her beautiful, thought-provoking, and memorable posting.  This is one blog that I've added to my "regular reads" and look forward to seeing what she has to say, whether it's fiction or fact.  She writes with equal clarity and grace about her life and her son.  It's one of the blogs that I now read and think, "I wish I could write like that!"

For more November Perfect Posts, visit Suburban Turmoil and Petroville for a complete list.  They usually have a great mix of old favorites and new voices that will make you laugh, cry, and think.  This month should prove to be no different.