Nanowrimo

November is shaping up to be a most challenging month for me. Up until 3 years ago, I was an avid poetry and short story writer. This love of words and the use of imagination started when I was 11 years old. I loved to sit and write for hours upon end, and when I entered junior high school,  English Literature was my gateway to heaven. Geoffrey Chaucer, James Joyce, Edgar Allen Poe to name a few, enchanted me. Writing takes one places that are seemingly out of reach and it opens up the heart and spirit to collaborate together on a plane not dictated to by the world.

I have read the verses of the old masters to modern day poets and felt the essence of their emotions, and have peaked through the looking glass of their eyes. Its how I learned that poetry is more than dreams and imagination, it is a healing balm in times of confusion and frustration, it a bridge that helps one cross over the grumbling waves of anger and fear; it gives rise to the shine that pours from the spirit. For me, I think Audre Lorde captures the heart of poetry well in this quote;

For women . . . poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of light within which we can predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives. Graduate school however, took me away from the writing realm and now that my workload is much lighter, I am braving the wild ride of the Nanowrimo Challenge. It's 50,000 words in 30 days....are you up for it? If so...Lets do this! Nanowrimo

Hey, I am a mom after all!

Babies are cute and cuddly, they emit an essence of pure sweetness. I love how they nestle themselves close with a tiny ear to your chest being nurtured by the rhythm and sound of our heartbeat. I got to experience that scenario with my nieces and nephews; I would have loved to have had one of my own. Nonetheless, I became a mother of sorts two years ago through the adoption of two brothers (8weeks old at the time). Their names are Charlie and Eddie; two Bishon Poos.

Eddie is the one on the left and Charlie is on the right side. They are both very disarming and highly intelligent. Now Charlie is very mischievous, has a very curious nature and is the wanna be alpha dog    (or so he thinks), over Eddie. Eddie is shy and totally a mamas boy. To him, I am the center of his world. He follows me from room to room and keeps me in site from the time he awakens, until he's put to bed.
My boys are smart, totally house broken in less than 2 weeks. Their understanding of the human language has increased to 56 words. Skeptical??? According to animal planet, " It turns out that the language comprehension of some dogs rivals that of apes and parrots, not to mention the average 3-year-old." McGrath, Jane.  "How many words do dogs understand?"  14 April 2008.  AnimalPlanet.com. <http://animals.howstuffworks.com/pets/dogs-understand-words.htm>  31 October 2012. Like I said, they are smart! These are some of the words that they respond to without fail are: commercial is on, bye bye, who wants to go outside, go get mama's shoes, go get your toy, go get your brother (only Eddie responds to this...he will take off running to find his brother and brings him back every time), bath time, and go to your room (they get in their kennel crate). They know when it's time to go outside, when its snack time, meal time and bedtime. If I forget the time, especially bedtime (9pm), both boys will come to get me. Last night I was busy typing away on a research paper and forgot to put them to bed. Charlie jumped in my lap and put his left paw to my cheek as he whined. I responded, "bedtime," and they replied by leaping up and down to be picked up and carried by mom to bed. Yeah I have a good life, I love my 2 poo's, my butt looks good in jeans, and I am the alpha mom in my house.