Being one small part of a generous community

The lovely and generous Jen over at Rants & Raves honored me on the first day of the year, no less, with this Best Blogging Buddies award. If you don't know about Jen, she is not only a mother, but a ....NANNY. Yes, she has her own children and then watches other children. I know. She must be divinely insane. Her posts depicting life on both sides are really funny and I loved this recent post on her review of the children's book "Goodnight Gorilla." Jen, thank you so much for this award.

What I really like about this award is that it reflects being part of a community. And as we launch into 2008, it feels very special to be part of the incredible fellowship I have found here on my blog, and more importantly the opportunity to discover your blogs and be a part of the communities that all of you are building.

And with that in mind, I'd like to award this to the following people:

To Rachel who discovered my blog during NaBloPoMo, when I was recounting the story of our infertility and failed IVFs and hung in there through the happy ending of our little miracles through adoption and a very unexpected pregnancy. After many years of infertility herself, Rachel has 5 miracles of her own and another on the way! She is building a community on infertility, sharing her knowledge and providing inspiration to others.

To A Mom Two Boys who just recently started a blog and is working on building her community. She has to have THE MOST ROMANTIC BRIDAL SWOON picture ever taken on a beach as her blog header. If it is really her, then I am just flat out jealous. And I like her because she likes the fact that I am known to drink JD & Coke on occasion. She wrote a very, clever witty post linking several bloggers here.

To HRH at June Cleaver Nirvana, who should get an award just for the title of her blog. She started commenting on my blog, which was a gift for me to find her blog. And she drives a minivan, which puts her close to my heart. Although, her minivan appears to be an attack vehicle. She continues to leave us in suspense over the outcome of the removal of her stitches. Please report on your condition IMMEDIATELY, woman!

To Mary Alice From the Frontlines who always makes great comments on every one's blogs. She is all about community. And the first time I went to her blog, I was intrigued by her profile where she describes herself having "an unconventional up-bringing in an extraordinarily large bohemian California family that drove a VW micro-bus." She also said she likes to kick back at the end of the day and "eat a small wheel of brie." A girl after my own heart. This post about her relationship with her daughter called, The Middle Child, melted my heart.

To Amy at Milk Breath and Margaritas who takes us through her very personal and immediate story of going through early menopause...very unexpectedly. At 40 she had a baby and then went through menopause. I liked her post on Blog Me vs. Real Me and whether the person we present as ourselves on our blog is really us.

I'd also like to make a special mention of Kellan who epitomizes what a "blogging buddy" is and she IS all about community. She wraps me up in her words and is a consummate storyteller. And she is a lovely person. We are of a similar age, although she was a mere babe when she became a mom. Smart woman. Her. I especially liked this heartfelt post called The Journey, that she wrote on Thanksgiving day. Kellan also received this award from Jen, but if I could I'd give it to her again. Kellan recently gave out these awards to all of her readers (of which there are many!) In her generous style, I'd like to pass them along to all of you who would take them as yours. Enjoy! I hope they come to you, as they did me, on one of those tough days. Here's to another year full of Yumminess and it being acceptable to be a Crabby Mommy!

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