as a matter of fact

I feel like I need to grow white fur and sprout long ears – my continual inner monologue consisting entirely of varied mutterings concerning my lateness. Some time ago, August 18 to be exact, Mary-LUE graciously benefited me with the Nice Matters Blog Award. Apparently, I matter (I’ll make sure to let everyone in this house know that I now have justifiable cause to insist upon them paying attention to me).

Go ahead, click on the link. Find out what this is about; I’ll wait.

Okay?

Well, since being told that I matter, I have managed very few posts – let alone posts with any merit to them. Be that as it may, I will practice simple gratitude by saying, in my sincerest humble voice, “Why, thank you, Mary.”

Now, on to the business of passing this award along:

Be warned, most of my choices are having as much difficulty posting lately as I am. Though their words may be sporadic, however, they are always worth the wait.

For never failing to touch me with the gentle beauty captured through the lens, for the raw honesty of his family love, for his love of furry friends while embracing the circle of life, and for the way his comments never cease to make me feel special, I proclaim the OddMix to be very nice indeed (he even went so far as to add a wonderful photograph to a poem I posted long ago. With his permission, I will post his version at some future date).

For the love of inanity, the perspective that comes from experience, the efforts to touch the lives of others through her work (not to mention sidewalk chalk and bubbles), I must pass this award along to Mel. The birds and furry critters of her back yard menagerie join me in applauding this great honor.

For touching upon subjects both personal and global, and often controversial, while maintaining an atmosphere of acceptance to viewpoints other than her own; for welcoming new voices to regular “commentversations”, and for always forgiving me when I disappear for inordinate amounts of time, there is simply no choice other than to pass this honor along to Julie.

My last four choices are very different women, but women drawn together with the tight knit cloth of understanding. Each of these women knows what it is like to say goodbye to a child without ever getting a proper hello. For years their presence and compassion in my life has mattered even though I have yet to meet any of them face to face.

For her joy in her hard-won twins and the Norman Rockwell-esque beauty with which she paints the canvas of their daily lives, I simply must compensate one Minnesota Momma that embodies the term ‘nice’.

For the beauty captured in mother/daughter, mother/son, and wife/husband deep and intricate love, jouette takes home top honors. The niceness quotient of her optimistic intensity is beyond compare.

For the genuine compassion that somehow manages to peek through even the most scathingly witty remarks; for holding her friends in her thoughts amidst the craziness of globe-trotting, periodic single-parenting, and repeated close encounters of the MRI kind; for silver linings (presented bilingually to boot), and for the ability to look past my weaknesses (or poke fun at them – but somehow only when she knows I can handle the jest), I crown Heather with many crowns.

And finally, for the indescribable depth of passion (hidden ever so slightly by the scientific demeanor), for the slightly unexpected way her camera’s eye can catch the importance of a scene, for the mama-pride that blushes over the surface-speak about her ‘normal’ children, for the careful choice of words that manages to grasp - entirely, exactly - what my heart is often wrestling, and for holding firm to honesty in a less than honest world, my spidermama friend earns her reward.

I exhort you all; play nice!