On the last day of 2009, I am joining Jo-Lynne from Musings of a Housewife to give you the first sentence, from the first post, of each month.  Originally I wanted to share the "best of" each month as Scary Mommy so eloquently did and many others followed.  However, I opened my archives and was shocked at the number of posts I had published in the last year.  It would take me all night to decide which ones made the cut.

Because.  I. Blog. A lot. ^{1. A year end blogging epiphany.  See below.}

I am pretty sure that I am the only blogger in the world whose cornea had herpes right after their house was flooded that led to a full house remodel right after their grandfather's death which happened shortly after being on TV for the second time after admitting they manipulated their husband and shamelessly vlogging drunk after speaking in front of thousands as one of the keynote speakers at the BlogHer 2009 conference in Chicago who took a roadtrip with three children to Chicago just weeks before the conference only to see her daughter being trampled by a horse days after.

Wow.  What a year!  Without further ado... the first sentence of each month:

January 2009

"Mom!!!" Leading by my example

February 2009

Two weeks ago, I stood on top of my bathroom counter and asked you take some risks in shopping. OHmommy's wardrobe staples.

March 2009

"I need new jeans, Mama" nearly five-year-old Lola stood before me. The Great Gene Payback.

April 2009

Ingredients: Three cute well-fed chickadees, a saturated open field, sunshine, gigantic bottle of generic bubbles and one nice camera. Seriously. I give up.

May 2009

"Why don't you pick out the most fanciest dress you have?" I realized. Wearing too much lipstick makes you look three years older.

June 2009

Last night before bed, I laid next to Lola and told her to pray with me. We need religion class ASAP.

July 2009

Five reasons why you should take the super long way home by accident stopping to take advantage of awesome backdrops. Two roads diverged in Chicago. (Marinka no likey the blogging strike out.)

August 2009

I. Don't. Agree.  Because no one reads blogs on the weekend... here's a political post

September 2009

"That was the last birthday I celebrated with my mother," is how my husband ended the update. Forbidden to discuss, until now.

October 2009

I don't have to write this, infact I don't have to mention anything about my recent trip to LA.  Nestle Family blogger event from a participant.

November 2009

I cursed when I found out that our school district reconfigured our afternoon bus route in August, confining my two small children to the social graces of gigantic third-graders for well over an hour on the way home.  Driving me (in)sane.

December 2009

I try not to overwhelm my immediate family with needless tidbits, cute photos and funny things the chickadees said through emails and phone conversations.  Overwhelming love in a digital age.

1.  In conclusion, I blog a lot. To be very honest, I've been struggling immensely in the last few weeks in regards to my blog.  There are many nights that I go to bed and say, "That's it.  I am done.  I will silently slip away without anyone noticing."  It's somewhat strange, yet heartwarming, when I get emails from readers/friends/acquaintances that through reading my blog know me well.  Which really is the beauty of blogging. I have a handful of people that "get me" and hold my hand through life encouraging me to do better, to be better.  Just as beautiful are the handful of people that don't "get me" and open my eyes to an opinion I would not have otherwise been exposed to.

I started out this post, in my head, saying goodnight friends I might not be around as much next year; but, I've come to realize (through reading my archives tonight and seeing friend's comments) that I really like this place of mine.  Happy New Year friends.

And next year's words await another voice.

And to make an end is to make a beginning.
~T.S. Eliot, "Little Gidding"