NaBloPoMo

I'm going to do it! To help me overcome my strange feelings about blogging (you know, how it feels like homework sometimes, how you feel guilty when you haven't posted in a while, how I totally love it and totally hate it at the same time) I have joined the National Blog Posting Month movement and I will post EVERYDAY in November. I will. It may not be pretty but I will do it.
I invite all of you to share in my misery and do it too!

Today, November 1st, is the birthday of three of my favorite people! First, my sister Susan. She doesn't blog - and even when I e-mail her and tell her that I wrote about her on my blog, she may not ever see this. But I am going to tell you about her anyway. Susan is 14 years older than me, she left home when I was young and got married when I was 7. I spent a lot of my growing up years at her apartment, helping her wash dishes, watching her decorate cakes and just hanging out. She was a good mom to me, when I felt like my own mom didn't understand me, Susan always did. She excused my absences (sluffs) from school, let me bring my friends over to her place and didn't care if I ate entire cans of black olives from her pantry.

When I was 10, Susan gave birth to my niece Deidra on November 1st. It has always been so fun to celebrate with Susan and Deidra on their special day. They have made the most of their shared day, going to all of the places that give you free stuff on your birthday. They see movies for free on this day, get donuts and free lunches. Deidra is getting married in a few weeks and I have loved being able to share time with her as she is preparing for her big day. Deidra was always my little buddy, just like I was to her mom - I hauled her around with me everywhere. I dressed her up, took her pictures and carried her around like she was my baby doll.

The third person who shares this day is my friend Shannon. She never updates that blog by the way! Shannon and I met seven years ago in the mother's lounge at the church when we were both nursing our babies. We got to talking about our kids and realized that we had older girls the same age - those two girls have become best friends, as well as the two girls we were nursing that day. We both had kids in Montessori elementary schools and shared a lot of the same views on schooling. We became fast friends. Shannon sees me at 5:30 every morning in my bad moods, bad hair and bad pajamas as we take our morning walks - but those 2 miles every morning are an important part of my day and I really miss them when we don't go.

I hope all three of you lovely ladies have a great day today!!