A Time to Plant

[Exciting note: We are almost at 1000 comments! I'm stoked! You are all amazing in your comment lovin'. You like me - you reallly like me!]

[UPDATE: We hit 1000! And yes, it was Sassy Belle who did it, with the first of her ten comments. She made me a lovely little image for it, too, that you can find in my Bloggy Bling! Thanks, Sassy!]

My blogging to-do list is getting pushed off yet another day. I know you're all fabulously disappointed, given you actually have no idea what was on the list, and therefore have no idea what you're missing out on. Should you be saddened by the delay, or thanking me for the reprieve? Tough call.

Apparently, my blog (and some posts in particular) have a way of making my readers think, because California Teacher Guy has nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award. I am honored beyond words. Well, not completely beyond words - it takes an awful lot to get me completely beyond words.

Before I move on to my own nominations, let me take a moment to speak to my nominator. If he hadn't already been twice nominated by others, I would likely choose to nominate him myself, because so many of his posts make me think. They make me think about the kind of teacher I want to be, and the promise inherent in such a challenging profession. He makes me feel inspired and renewed in my goals as an educator, which is much-needed in what can be a very tiring field. His nominations are well-deserved, and to be nominated by him is a high honor indeed. So thank you much, CTG.

And now, my five nominations:

1. Dancing Dragon at Waltz
Dancing Dragon has been going through some struggles with her health for a while now, and while her struggles and mine are very different, they are sometimes so similar. At times, I really feel like she and I "get" each other in a way that very few other people in our lives can. In a post a few weeks ago, she talked about the shifting expectations of such an unexpected illness, and how that changes the way we see things around us. "Shades and colors of people," she says, "show themselves even more distinctly during troubled times." I appreciate the way her posts make me stop and think and feel.

2. Kvetch at Kvetch Blog
I started reading Kvetch after months of seeing her name in countless blogrolls. When I first went to visit, I was deeply touched, and stayed a loyal reader ever since. About a week ago, she posted a story about her and her ex-husband and some problems they were having in their marriage at the time. It was a painfully honest post, and I understood quite a bit about it, despite having never been married myself. She said, "I assumed that when he was home, I knew where he was. I’ve learned since that someone can be right next to you and somewhere else at the same time." I love how open and straightforward she is, even about the most difficult topics, and how she makes me face my own difficult topics more easily because of it.

3. Julia at Major Bedhead
Ah, Julia. She can make me laugh me effing ass off sometimes, with her candor and wit. But at other times, she makes me stop and look at myself and the world around me with new eyes. I think we all know that I have some trouble with self-esteem at times. Last week, Julia struggled with some of her own feelings of inadequacy, and talked about that inner voice, the voice that criticizes all the faults she most fears to be criticized, because that voice knows the deepest fears better than any other. And I thought to myself, "I know that voice. I hear that voice." She asked, herself and others, "How do I shut off that damned voice?" And sadly, I had no answer for her. But I began to wonder - to think about it for myself. And maybe to try to find a solution.

4. Jen of So Fast Away...
Jen has been through very similar struggles to my own, and because of that, I feel a connection to her greater than that to many others. She speaks to things I know, deep down inside, in a way that I know nothing else at times - things most other people can never really know. "I looked down and my hand was covered in blood and I wasn’t going to die anymore." If that doesn't make you stop and think, I don't know what will.

5. Sandra of Sunshine Scribe
What a beautiful woman. I don't mean physically - though she is that, as well - but in her heart, her spirit, her words as a writer. She has given me food for thought on numerous occasions, but more recently, she reminded me of the reasons I blog. After a much-needed bloggy time-out, she has returned, acknowledging that blogging is, for her, "more than just a url. More than just hastily written words that appear on a screen. More than a community of talented (and supportive) writers." And I stopped, and said, "YES," because I soooo get that. It is - it's so much more. And she helped me remember that, yet again.

And yes, before you ask, it was VERY tough for me to choose only five. You all make me think, you all make me reconsider, you all give me new perspective. Sometimes, I really believe that's why I'm still around now.

And I don't just mean in the blogosphere.