She's Ba-ack!

Last night in belly dance class, I was reminded of something I really admire in Ishra, the instructor. She is never judgmental. She values enthusiasm and passion over pure talent, I think, and always finds something good to say. Yet I know she is fiercely disciplined in her own dance practice, has high expectations and ambitious goals for herself. Not only have I learned the ancient art of belly dance from her. I have also learned to be less judgmental, of myself and others, and to support and find beauty in the women around me. The women are of all ages and shapes and backgrounds, yet we come together regularly in a shared interest, fumbling in our lessons, and enjoying it. Last night it occurred to me that the blogosphere is the same kind of place for me.

For being such a short and dreary month, there has been some great blogging going on in February. As my regular readers will know, sleep (as in not getting enough) has been an issue in our house this month, and as the end of the month approached I was having a hard time I had two posts I wanted to nominate for a perfect post. But the rules state explicitly that if you're going to nominate a post, you have to choose just one.

Both of these posts, together and separately, felt like they had been written just for me, and they reminded me that I am not the only mother to suffer rough nights and sleep deprivation, that I, like all other mothers, will survive. That things will get better. Both of these posts also questions conventional medical thought, which always goes over well with me.

On the one hand, I worry that with this post, I'm saying, "Ooh, you almost got a perfect post nomination, but no." But on the other I want to take the opportunity to thank the authors of those posts for their support, whether intended or not. But sorry, a dark horse entered the race at the last minute...

Then, right before the end of the month, someone named kgirl commented on my blog in a pretty familiar way. I immediately clicked over to see who she was, and was overjoyed to discover that it was the blogger formerly known as Penelope. I've been waiting for her return to the blogosphere pretty much ever since she went fishing. As I started to read her first post on her new blog, I started to get pretty excited, in expectation of a pregnancy announcement, so I started to skim to get to it. It was there, but promptly followed by its loss. I made a comment, but realized that I hadn't really taken in her words. A while later that day, I reread the post, slowly, and realized that it was beautiful, and I had to nominate it for a perfect post award. There are many reasons to love her post, beyond it marking her return (although that would be enough on its own). Kgirl's honesty is bracing and heartbreaking. Her words are beautiful.

Last night I also learned that raks (as in raks sharki, a style of belly dance) not only means dance. It also means to make the heart shake and quiver. Kgirl's post did this to me. Welcome back, Kgirl.

For more perfect posts, check out Suburban Turmoil and Petroville.