Thank you

Claire Fontaine — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 08:18:36 -0500

simply for being who you are, Birdie. Your inner light illuminates everyone and everything around you. Such lucky students! And lucky us, too - you're a perfect beginning to the day.

Thank you for featuring my blog!

Lynnae — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:50:39 -0500

And congratulations on your new job! Have a great week!

Thank you from FiveBlondes!

fiveblondes — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 16:46:18 -0500

Birdie, thank you for featuring our blog! We have lots of news to blog about after this weekend - we had a "Naughty & Nice" bridal shower for Kate, and Erica got engaged! We are five very happy blondes.

Lucky students, that's for sure.

lauriewrites — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:04:07 -0500

Congratulations on the new job. Teaching is one of the most difficult things I have ever done in my life, but I love it. The profession needs more people like you who know that it's not about shoving information into anyone's brain - it's about helping them unlock their own interests and capacity to learn.

Next week I'm going back to school full-time for the first time in ten years...starting a new career, I guess, at the same time. BlogHer, and meeting women like you online and in person, gave me the jump start and a good bit of the courage I needed.

Thanks for this reminder:" I can imagine thousands of women like me starting something new this weekend - a new job, a new marriage, a new baby, a new perspective. Life moves forward, we can't hold it back, hurricanes be damned. Life finds a way."

It so does. I can't wait to read your stories about your new experiences this year.
Laurie

LaurieWrites

What a sweet life it is

AdkAmanda — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 07:27:08 -0500

Birdie! Thank you for casting your beautiful light my way, and congratulations on your new post. Lucky students indeed.

What's New In the BlogHer Life Blogroll? Life goes on with new careers, blondes, August blues, thankfullness

Birdie Jaworski — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 06:30:57 -0500

Hurricane Dean is thrashing Jamaica. Courageous firefighters lost their life in a raging blaze near Ground Zero. The news is full of scary events, full of murder and mayhem and politicians pounding their chests. But life goes on, surprises us, delights us, hands us moments mundane, precious, even in the midst of the most unsettling news.

Today I am at a retreat, sitting cross-legged on the rough wood floor of a yurt hidden in the San Miguel County woods. A few days ago my life shifted gears, jumped tracks, did something I didn't expect it to do just a few months ago. I signed a contract to teach, to nurture, to stand in front of 28 7th and 8th grade students at a local school and tell them I'm their teacher.

My sons didn't blink when I told them. I spent last year in their school, volunteering, trading guitar lessons for pocket change, helping build models, record songs, anything the rest of the moms wouldn't, couldn't do. I found I had a knack for it. Now I'm sitting in a yurt, a hired teacher. I brought a sleeping bag, a change of clothes, a homemade pear crisp, my laptop, an open heart.

I can imagine thousands of women like me starting something new this weekend - a new job, a new marriage, a new baby, a new perspective. Life moves forward, we can't hold it back, hurricanes be damned. Life finds a way.

Let's welcome a few new women to the BlogHer Life Blogroll:

Five Blondes Blog is written by five blonde sisters. As the oldest of five girls - and no brothers - I can relate to the fun repartee between each other and their readers. Each Blonde posts her own thoughts, and some of their posts are the result of group think, like when they describe doing something we have all done with our blog names! From Googling Five Blondes :

Although choosing Five Blondes as our blog title was a fairly quick and painless decision, there was definitely a lot of thought put into it. Thought, research, and Googling. If we tell someone about our blog and they Google us, what comes up? Are there any other blogs or websites with like names? Could the results be embarrassing?

She Has Moxie expresses the way many of us feel during August's long summer stretch. In her post, Stepping Back, Moxie sighs:

August is always such a ragged month. All the last stuff of summer seems to get crammed in. It feels like we're waiting for summer to be over, but simultaneously, it's a humid funk out there.

Lynnae of From Under the Clutter counts her blessings in a sweet list where she gives careful thanks for all of the small moments of wonder and grace during her week:

I'm thankful that my daughter has a good friend. This time of year is always a little nerve wracking with kids going back to school. My daughter is in public school, and I'm constantly worried about the influences there. Her friend is a very good influence, and they weather the trials of grade school together.

Amanda at Tumble Dry waxes beautifully philosophical on the amazing curative powers of Lake George:

Sean took me to the lake, my stubborn chin jutting out beneath a full force pout. I dove in, not for, as he put it, a relaxing dip, rather to hide my face. The next day I woke and angels sangs as I faced the mirror, so clear and creamy was my complexion. It has also cured cramp, a bad mood so fierce that I made flowers wilt, and sorrows untouched by sweet nothings and tender hands.

Welcome, Ladies!

********
Birdie Jaworski writes the BlogHer "How to Write" series, Words in a Row. Her next column is Tuesday, where she will talk about "the invisible," as well as feature several incredible contributions from Words in a Row participants. Want to catch up? Here is a list of the series contents to date:

Words in a Row: Write with Birdie
Marty Cherryseed and the Good Bad Idea
A Case of Mysterious Identity
Chewbacca Rides Shotgun
Shattered