#ippp: strange little band of characters

Welcome to #iPPP! Gfunkified and I want to see your funny, your yummy, your heartfelt, your favorite phone photos of the week. All you need is a blog post containing at least one photo from any phone camera. Link up below!

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“The family. We were a strange little band of characters trudging through life sharing diseases and toothpaste, coveting one another’s desserts, hiding shampoo, borrowing money, locking each other out of our rooms, inflicting pain and kissing to heal it in the same instant, loving, laughing, defending, and trying to figure out the common thread that bound us all together.”

~~Erma Bombeck

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This Sunday my friend, Emily, my friend Shannon (owner of Mama’s Hip) and I are co-facilitating a local mother’s writing workshop called Mothers at the Well. If I were to speak technically I’d say that this workshop explores the rite of passage into motherhood. It’ll be a workshop in which we’ll explore our own journeys through motherhood in order to discover our emerging identities and create community. But phew. What a mouthful. And much too official sounding for the likes of this blog.

To speak informally about this workshop I’ll tell you it’s going to kick ass. We Mamas are going to gather. We’re going to relax. We’re going to get real. Get all nice and cozy. We’re going to relax and write. We’re going to relax and share our writing. We’re going to relax and learn from each other. We’re going to relax and think about ourselves. For a change.

And did I mention we’re going to relax? I’m talking a little bit of Tai Chi relaxation. A little bit of guided imagery meditation relaxation.

We are going to take a good. Soft. Look inward and see who’s looking back. We’re going to gather. We’re going to write. And we’re going to freaking become.

Become.

Become what?

Become….

Eh, that’s what the workshop is for. [Insert smart-alecky smiley face here.]

This morning Emily, Shannon and I met to put the finishing touches on this workshop series we’ve created together. But there’s just one more thing I volunteered to do. I offered to find an opening quote or a poem, maybe part  of an essay for our greeting/welcoming.

Friends, I’m in need of some sacred words about motherhood or writing or both.

Names like Anne Lamott and Erma Bombeck have been tossed into the ring. (That’s how I stumbled upon the quote above. Isn’t it sassy and endearing mixed together? Like a slap and a cuddle all at once. That’s exactly what family is. And I love it.)

But I’m wondering do YOU have a favorite quote about motherhood? Or writing? Or a piece from a writerly Mama that speaks to your heart?

Please share it with me now and maybe it will become part of our workshop.

p.s. I wish you ALL could attend. I really do. Mom Power!

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