Edgy Mama

I was about to go take a recovery nap before the fam gets back from church, but I had to vomit instead. No, not from Blogapoolozathon-induced party flu, but from the chipmunk guts strewn across my living room.

As I was reviewing other bloggers’ party roundups, I realized that something behind me was Not Right. I could hear the puppy chewing, so I turned, expecting him to be mouthing one of the kids’ toys, only to see splattered dead chipmunk hanging from the pooch’s canines. Houdini was lounging nearby, affectionately watching his protege rip his gift to shreds.

At least it wasn’t a prairie dog. When I lived in Colorado, we had a school cat where I worked who used to catch prairie dogs that were bigger than he was. He’d drag them into my office and dismantle them under my desk. That cat loved me.

So, back to the party. Ash and Jennifer have comprehensive reviews, and Gordon, despite being partially blinded by this gorgeous Fall day, posted the Blogger Award winners at BlogAsheville.

I was gifted with a plastic alligator, which my son immediately co-opted, and a leather-stamped letter opener, which I wore stuck in my bra for most of the evening (gotta emphasize the pushup bra-enhanced cleavage somehow). So thank you to whomever provided the thoughtful giftees that I received for being “Most Likely to Make Money from Blogging.” The big bucks should start pouring in soon. After the awards, I discovered that Don Mak is paying his mortgage with the proceeds from his songwriting bloggie, which makes my freelance paycheck, which basically pays for half my monthly gasoline, seem meager.

Kudos to Ash and Fliss who won big and well-deservedly. I love Hangover Journal but I am typically one of only about four people who leaves comments on the bloggie, so I was under the erroneous impression that not many folks read Fliss’ ironic and hilarious take on life. But then she doesn’t really ask for comments or seem to need them. At least not the way I do. My favorite part of blogging is the interactivity. Okay, and the big bucks.

Highlights from my night last night were discovering that my favorite new blogger, She Who Eats, is someone I already knew; flirting with the fabulous Diana; receiving metaphorical pats on the back from folks regarding my Mt. X column (including from Jon E, the big ed there); flirting; catching up with Mulder and zen and Helen; helping Uptown gift the award winners; meeting Genie and Jennifer and Petulant; flirting; and forcing people to taste the nasty peach malt beverage that Bruisin’ Ales gave us.

Your highlights in comments.

I’ve been thinking a lot about a woman named Melissa who died a week and a half ago. I didn’t know Melissa well, but she was one of the first people we met when Enviro-spouse and I moved to Asheville 10 years ago.

At that time, we were all child-free, and Melissa was part of a group working to bring some young adult vitality to our Unitarian Universalist church.

She was one of those acquaintances whom I’ve always enjoyed talking with, although we never were close friends or sought out each other’s company. Her death would have been merely a sad blip in my life, except that I have become friends with Melissa’s husband, JA, over the years, partly because he’s an avid reader and commenter here on the blog.

I bonded with JA several years ago when our families attended Family Camp at the UU Retreat Center. I quickly recognized a fellow member of the Cynical Smarty-Pants Club.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about Melissa over the past few months because it’s horrible, horrible when anyone suffers from killing cancer, but when it’s a mother of young children, it’s just effing heartbreaking. Melissa was two years younger than I am, and in addition to JA, left behind a 6-year-old son, a 2-year-old son, and a pre-adolescent stepdaughter.

I have one particularly vivid memory of Melissa from Family Camp—a memory that has flashed through my mind many times over the past years, even before I learned she was ill.

Much of FC was a nightmare for me, mostly because we were having some behavioral and sleep issues with our 3-year-old girl. Also, our boy was still a baby and a night nursing machine. I was irritable, sleep-deprived, hormonal, and convinced I sucked at parenting.

Discovering that Melissa, JA and their firstborn were at FC was a bright spot in an otherwise dismal experience.

I remember sitting on the deck outside the dining hall, drinking a beer, enjoying the view, and talking to Melissa about our boys. I remember laughing when she said something silly. Silly seemed in short supply in my life at that time.

But the moment that most sticks in my mind was when W, their baby, somehow bumped his head. He was in a stroller at the time, so I’m not sure how it happened. My guess is that JA ran him into the underside of a table or something. Melissa was clearly distressed, but she reacted calmly. She bent over her baby and gave him numerous soft tiny kisses on his forehead. She kissed him and kissed him until he stopped crying. I remember thinking then that Melissa was an uber-mom, someone who, regardless of everything else she was, was meant for motherhood.

This intimate moment between mother and child touched me. Melissa’s love for her baby was so intense that it was almost felt intrusive to watch her with him. Yet, I knew exactly how she felt as she blessed his tiny head with her kisses. Feeling her love for her baby helped me remember the joy of loving my own children.

I can’t imagine the pain and the courage that it took for Melissa to let go of life, as she was forced to do, and to leave her children. That’s what haunts me now. Imagining how she felt, knowing that she was dying, knowing that she wouldn’t be there for so much of her boys’ lives.

We’re all dying; just some of us are dying faster than others. And some of us learn what it feels like to have to say good-bye, while trusting that the love we’ve given and received will be enough to last beyond our corporeality.

Go in peace, Melissa.

Beer goddess and Captain A, originally uploaded by edgygrrrl.

in my fave T-shirt of the moment with fellow beer lover and long-time EM aficiando, Captain America. After writing the article about local microbreweries, I do, indeed, know quite a bit about beer. I rarely give biz shout-outs on the bloggie, but, for free beer, I will. So here’s to Bruisin’ Ales, our lovely, local speciality beer shop, for donating a keg to Saturday night’s Blogaversathon party. Thanks, y’all!

We will be celebrating Saturday night, somewhere in West Asheville, from 4 p.m. until god knows when, and you’re all invited. E-mail Gordon at scrutinyhooligansatyahoodotcom if you want directions.

In the mean time, whether or not you will attend the par-tay, you must vote for the Blog Asheville Bloggie Awards.

Here’s the lowdown from fearless leader Gordon: “There are two pages of voting. If I find that people are voting for one page but not the other, I will glare sternly and remind you that your favorite blogs are also nominated on the other page. I used Survey Monkey, and they only allow ten questions per survey. So work with me here people.

UPDATE: *stern glare*

Your favorite blogs are also in Part Two of the Survey. If you took Part One without taking Part Two (and so far eleven twenty-one of you have), then you’re missing out on voting for more of your favorite blogs in the second half of the voting.

BlogAsheville Awards 1-10
BlogAsheville Awards 11-20

Voting Will Close at 8pm on September 29th. The multiple choice responses are randomized, so they’ll appear in a different order for each voter. You can vote only once, so take your time and enjoy it. The answers at the SurveyMonkey pages aren’t hotlinked. Take a minute to take a look at our nominees below, and click away. Thanks to everyone who submitted nominations!”

To make it easier for you, I’ve listed the categories that really, truly need your vote:

Most Likely to Make Money by Blogging
Edgy Mama
Scrutiny Hooligans
Brainshrub

Blogger you’d most like to see naked
Ashvegas
syntax/Arratik of Scrutiny Hooligans
A Girl Who Wears Glasses
What The Hell?
Thunder Pig
Edgy Mama
Charm Of The Highway Strip

Best Writing
Scrutiny Hooligans
Ashvegas
What The Hell?
Hangover Journals
Edgy Mama

Best Overall
Ashvegas
Hangover Journals
Jennifer Saylor
Scrutiny Hooligans
Edgy Mama

Here’s my Flickr slideshow from Brewgrass. Blogger finally let me back in. Whew!

Kind of. Today I’m writing here, my weekly parenting column for Mountain Xpress. Enjoy!

want me to publish my link to my Brewgrass Flickr set for some reason, so if you’re interested in more photos, scroll down and click on the Flickr box in my left sidebar!

In fact, Blogger’s not letting me publish any photos at all. Not sure what’s up with that.

Brewgrass rocked. We ran into several people whom we didn’t know would be there, and didn’t see several people we knew were there. I never made it to half my favorite beer tents, including Rogue and Abita. I meant to go introduce myself to a couple of the brewers whom I’d interviewed on the phone, but I somehow didn’t manage to do that either. Beer is yum, but not so good for my organizational skills. Or memory.

The highlight of my day was the beer posse, who rightly worshiped at the feet of the beer goddess. Yum.

Brewgrass stories in the comments…

Jason Caughman, brewer and owner at Pisgah Brewing Company.
Rocking organic brews! Photo by AF Glenn

Asheville’s premier craft beer festival, Brewgrass, is tomorrow. Hurrah!

I wrote an article about Brewgrass for MtX here. It was such fun to write. I found that I have an affinity for, well, geeky-cute young brewers (see above).

If you don’t already have tickets, don’t even bother showing up. The party sold out two weeks ago, and you can beg and you can moan, but you won’t get in! If you don’t have tickets, do still read my article, because most of it consists of a mini-guide to Western North Carolina’s seven microbreweries.

I’m hydrating hard tonight in preparation for the big day. Asheville Beer Blog mentioned a featured beer from last year called Sexual Chocolate. I don’t remember tasting that one, and even tipsy, I can’t imagine forgetting the marriage of two of my favorite flavors.

So, I’ll be there in my Beer Goddess T-shirt, shooting pics with my paparazzi lens, and camping out near the Sexual Chocolate. Say hi if you see me!

Supposedly, Old Crow Medicine Show saw a tape of Bob Dylan singing and messing around in his basement. At one point, Dylan sings the chorus to this song. The Old Crow dudes took that 30 seconds of music and wrote a full song around it.

I think the Avett Brothers would totally rock this song. And it’s about North Caroline!

All my EM columns in one neat spot!

Anyone know how to make my logo (the EM chick above) higher resolution for print and T-shirts?

Help!

Also, just another shoutout to original logo and blog designer Eddo and to Mulder, who tweaked the design for T-shirt use! You guys rock!