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288th Friday Blog Roundup

I can’t really put into words how much the comments on my last post mean to me.  Feelings that enormous defy words and can only be captured in interpretive dance or orchestral music or a personal Cirque du Soleil show.  Reading the comments is like putting on a sweatshirt after the sun has gone down and it’s really cold on the beach.  They are like the first sip of really good soup.  They are like your mother bringing you hot chocolate when you’re playing in the snow.

I said in my last post that I was lonely and isolated, and you heard me, and I wanted to say a very public thank you to Kir, Susy, Mrs. Spock, Half a Duo, N, J, Lavender Luz, S, Tigger, A, JJ, Heather, Luna, Michelle, Angie, Justine, Gil, Wishing4One, Mrs. Gamgee, Genevieve, and Teamwinks who started to wipe away the blues with their comments.

I have equally loved leaving comments with all the Celebratory Society participants.  Is the whole thing self-indulgent?  Yes, but I’m glad I didn’t wait to tell people how much they mean to me and I’m thankful that they gave me a space to do so.  It creates a sense of peace to place the words down on the screen and I look forward to writing more comments as others join along.

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I have finally finished the 2009 Creme de la Creme, several months after the March 1st deadline.  Sorry about that.  Everyone who turned in their post by March 1st is on the list, and the list is officially closed for the year with 288 entries.  I must truly be crazy because as I put the project to rest, I cleaned up the spreadsheets and marked down notes for myself to use next year, readying myself to do this again.  The 2010 list won’t open until early November, but like a Girl Scout, I’m prepared.

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Our new passion is geocaching, letterboxing, and waymarking.  We sort of do a mishmash of all three, recording our journey in a collective notebook.  And we do it without a GPS using the instructions we found here.  We like to fancy-it-up and make our own little treasure maps.  I’ve decided that we’re going to make geo-letter-waying a once-a-week summer activity.  We have pool time three days a week and the farm one day a week, and suddenly, the entire summer is filled.

The cache I’m most excited to see I’m going to go to alone tomorrow.  Someone has hidden one inside the local library.  I’m armed with a call number and clues.  I can’t wait to find out what’s there.

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The Weekly What If: what if you could find a magical geocache and control with your mind what inanimate object would be found inside in the box.  What would you find when you peeled off the lid which would be yours for the taking?  In other words, what hidden treasure do you wish you could find?

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And now, the blogs…

Creating a Miracle has a wonderful post asking if she’s the only person who feels this way during a particularly tough stage with her child.  She writes, “I need to know that the way I’m feeling is normal. I feel cheated and overwhelmed. I’m frustrated and tired.”  And perhaps that is what I love about blogs–that no one needs to wonder if they’re the only person who has felt guilt as they paced with a screaming infant.  Other people can chime in, keeping her virtual company even if they don’t have a solution.

Jumping Through the Hoops also has a post about feeling out of sorts, mainly around other mothers.  She admits, “I love talking to other Moms, but sometimes I leave feeling like I don’t belong. I can’t quiet put my finger on it. I know our struggles with infertility and Ruby’s health problems are the major reasons. A lot of the time I still feel like an outsider looking in.”  Personally, I love the point she makes about it being okay to complain about the negative tasks of the job–the cleaning of poop and picking up dropped items.  It’s our internal steam release.

Overcoming Obstickles has a post about finding peace and having it shattered.  It is an incredibly moving and brutally honest post about taking care of herself only to regret that care after a phone call.  She explains, “I feel utterly betrayed. Betrayed by the universe, betrayed by my friend, but most of all, betrayed by my own good intentions and love for myself.”  You must read the whole post from start to finish.

Lastly, I am always a sucker for blog posts about blogging, especially particularly well-written ones, so I love this post at Edenland.  I love this line: “It’s so damn FUN …. looking back, looking forward, and the best kind of blogging …. looking within.”  Anyone who can compare her future elderly hands to cling wrap has my reading eyes hostage.  But mostly, I liked the look back to her old blog, the place where I met her and where she first started searching for her voice.  And I’m so glad she found it.

The roundup to the Roundup: Thank you to those who washed my blues away with kind words.  The Creme is finished–read and enjoy.  Off to go geo-letter-waying.  Answer the Weekly What If.  And lots of great posts to read.

13 comments

1 WiseGuy { 05.14.10 at 9:24 am }

I hope to find the jewellery my mother describes…something that she saw her elders indulging themselves in. It would be too classic and elegant and elegant for this day.

There are some fantastic posts you directed my attention to…would love to go read them. Thanks!

And thank you, Mel for all the hard work that you put in for the community, not restricted to the CDLC!

2 WiseGuy { 05.14.10 at 9:25 am }

Ack…the third adjective is expensive and not elegant.

3 N { 05.14.10 at 9:25 am }

I have friends who do letterboxing and friends who do geocaching; I love that you’ve combined them. Some day I’ll figure out how it all works. XD

4 Calliope { 05.14.10 at 10:34 am }

geowhat?? johnnycaching?? Excited for you to become an expert at this so you can tell me allllll about it.

I would love to find a photo album of my family. I just realized recently that with the digital era I don’t have any snapshots or albums to flip through and i miss that. I think it would be amazing to open a box and have a thick album or scrapbook (OH!!!! scrapbooking! that’s what I want to learn how to do too!!) and have it be beautifully and perfectly arranged for optimum happiness and enjoyment.

5 Susy { 05.14.10 at 12:04 pm }

A friend of mine is totally digging Geocaching! She discovered it on her trip back home to Ohio, and then kept it up here. I’m so interested, but haven’t made the time..

As for what I’d like to find.. I’d like to find one of those Harry Potter snowglobes where the people and things in it move and go on about ‘their’ lives. Except, I’d want it play it out different things in my past with my family. Like old home movies, but in a snow globe with 3d people. Lol..

And no thanks needed, you totally deserve all the love.

6 Stickles McQueen { 05.14.10 at 12:32 pm }

Thank you so, so very much for including me in your roundup and generating the flow of kindness and support my way. I have loved your blog and your work for so long – my blog would never have existed without Stirrup Queens. Just being able to connect with the source that inspired my own blog makes me feel loved and watched over at a time when I was feeling betrayed and abandoned.

7 Grace { 05.14.10 at 5:40 pm }

Hi..just wanted to say thanks for the tips you gave me today! 🙂

8 edenland { 05.14.10 at 6:33 pm }

I love you. And when I meet you I will cry.

9 Battynurse { 05.14.10 at 8:59 pm }

I’ve done some letterboxing before. I’ve never tried geocaching but my understanding is that they are similar. I should get back into it though as I haven’t done it in quite a while. Hmm.

10 Flying Monkeys { 05.15.10 at 12:07 am }

I’m so far behind I’ve been lapped by the 83 year old running his first race…

Does it have to be a physical thing? If not I would pick inner peace. That inner peace that makes it easier when friends blow you off you let it roll of your shoulders or when they try to diminish your grief because their trauma trumps yours you can let them have the “victory” because you know grief is so individual…you know those kind of things. What is that? Does it exist? If it does can that be what I pick?

11 Wishing4One { 05.15.10 at 8:04 am }

geo what? i too have not heard of this. but if i knew what it was and i had to say what physical obbject i wished to find it would be my baby’s first shoes. cause you know i am hoping that i get to see those. you deserve all the kudos and SO SO SO much more! you are an awesome woman. xoxoxo

12 Genevieve { 05.15.10 at 2:34 pm }

No thanks needed. I tell people about you when I talk about Blogland. I said that I was immensely proud that you were the first comment on my Celebratory Society page, and that you are the QUEEN, our den mother, our center. I mean it. We all owe YOU thanks.

13 Lorin { 05.15.10 at 4:00 pm }

Geocaching! So Much Fun! We’ve been doing it for a few years and last summer we introduced my sister and the nephews to it, too. The kids just love it. Heck, I love it! =)

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