Well, now that, in my codependent craziness, I've made all of you feel good and guilty for not commenting (BTW, Danielle, Moonmaid, by instantly reassuring me that you still love me, you've passed my codie test) and now that I have assuaged my own codie guilt for not commenting on your blogs, I'm ready to get back to blogging.

I could have sworn that, before I left on vacation, The Pentecostal Pariah tagged me again with the 8 Things About Me meme, but now I can't find a mention of it. So, either I am crazy or she took the post down or someone else tagged me but didn't actually link to me so it doesn't show up when I search Technorati. Whatever. This is what I planned to do today, so screw it. The kids are done with their summer activities and I've been up late reading Harry Potter with Mark. (Mark and I read aloud to each other and we are not done yet, so: closing my ears, lalalala, can't hear you!) Anyway, with my brain working on how to keep everyone occupied for the next few weeks and worrying about where the Horcruxes are and what Severus Snape is up to, I can't do but so much other thinking.

I'm going to tell you 8 more things, but since I can't find any evidence of the tag and since I've done this meme before, I'm going to change it up and blog about 8 things I loved about my recent trip. And then, tomorrow, I'm going to move on to Aphra Behn's interview and let blogging about the trip rest for a while. And then I'm going to leave on vacation (again) and this time I'm not going to look at my stats when I come back, and I'm going to know that no matter how much any of you comment, it's not going to matter, because until I do a better job of finding God, sitting in meditation, doing yoga and embracing myself, I will always be a bottomless pit of codependent insecurity and neediness seeking endless external validation. Sigh!

8 FAVORITE THINGS ABOUT MY TRIP

1. I love that Jess has a new car, but it still smells like all her cars, like her, like Love's Baby Soft and cigarettes.

2. I love old friends and being in the small town where I grew up. I love that I could call Janice and on a few hours notice, have a place to stay and loving people around me.
3. I loved that when Missy's baby fussed, I could scoop him up in my expert Mama arms and quiet him and get him to fall asleep on my shoulder. I loved the feeling of him sleeping there, small and warm and soft. And I loved that new mama Missy worried that, at 14 pounds, as a "big" baby, he was a heavy burden for me. My kids are 40 and 60 pounds now, and six years of carrying them has strengthened me so that I can carry them still, both at the same time. My arms are strong: I'm a mama, they have to be.
4. I loved holding onto Kelly and crying and having that say everything I needed to say.
5. I loved seeing my friend Deb and her family and meeting the daughter that looks just like her, only with red hair.
6. I loved seeing two guys in particular at my high school reunion. One was someone I didn't like in high school because he was handsome, and in my own insecurity, I imagined that meant he was arrogant. He turned out to be kind and warm and open and genuinely happy to see everyone, including me. The other was a good man I'd lost touch with who was doing well and was happy after some hard times in the past. He told me he wants to pinch himself everyday because he can't believe he's managed to arrive at such a good place in his life. And I was happy to see him doing so well.
7. I loved sitting on the beach with Ellen as her kids circled like seagulls in the sand. The ocean doesn't smell or sound the same anyplace in the world as it does back home.
8. I loved finding serenity and gratitude during my illness in my car ride with Pat.

And, because I don't want to put much thought into anything today, if you want to blog 8 things about yourself, consider yourself tagged. Only don't blog about my vacation, blog about yourselves!