A Girly Thing

There's a thunderstorm brewing somewhere, but I don't need to check the weather forecast to know that something's up. My mood is a fairly accurate barometer. When a low pressure system is forming, when positive ions are clustering in the atmosphere, my mood dips. Back in the late 1990s, when Clara was keeping a line-a-day diary, she tracked this phenomenon, and with uncanny certainty I would become depressed sometime in the 24 hours before a change in the weather. The skies are still fair, but something's coming. Fortuitously, my Canadian blog friend Chris sent me some love today to cheer me up.


It's interesting to follow the trail of these blog awards backwards and find that you're a link in a long chain of bloggers that stretches around the world. Chris received the award from Trish, who received it from Melody, who received it from Alice (in Kuala Lumpur, Indonesia), who received it from Rachel (in the Philippines)... The award originated here in February. Chris worried that I might consider a blogging award "too girly." No need to worry. As a former stay-at-home father and the token male in the Virago Modern Classics LibraryThing group, I'm always pleased to be made an honorary girl.

I'm going to be extremely selective in passing along this award. I received it from a stay-at-home mother, so I will bestow it exclusively upon the most heroic blogging mama I know. She's raising two beautiful, labor-intensive girls. She's staying up to date with her professional certification. She's cooking and shopping. She's keeping herself fit and beautiful. She's writing sensitively and with humor—and occasional fits of genuine panic to keep things real—about the important work of motherhood. She's blogging daily. She was the first blogger to tag me for a meme, so I'm going to return the honor with an award. Yes, it's Shan! My blogging friend forever.