In 1997, while waiting to board a plane to our honeymoon destination, Dave and I bought a pair of matching sunglasses at an airport kiosk. Ignoring my new husband’s eye-rolling, I christened them Marital Sunglasses, a solid representation of the ethereal bliss that was the start of our new life together.

We found our gate, and I tore myself away from him to hit the bathroom one last time before the flight. Upon finishing a piss to which I’m sure I attached some sort of matrimonial import, I wiped, stood up, turned around, looked down to flush, and watched my new sunglasses fall from their perch atop my head into the uber-vacuum vortex of the airport commode.

And I instantly burst into tears. In my mind, I had just flushed my fledgling marriage down the toilet. Obviously.

Thing is, I have always put too much import on inanimate objects, on innocent events. I have always over-analyzed the simplest of things.

A month or so ago, one of my favorite bloggers gave me this E is for Excellent award. The deal is you acknowledge it, thank your God and your country, and then pass it on to a few of your own favorite bloggers. Simple, right?

Well, not when your name is Maggie, dammit.

I have obsessed over this, you have no idea. I don’t want to leave anyone out, but I don’t want to create a big huge list of links that no one will read, either. It is the God’s honest truth that I have so many blogs I love. I adore my real-life blogging friends, of course – their blogs are good but I’m also extra-invested in them, because I know these guys. They have my heart.

And of course I read lots of people I don’t know, people I’ll never meet. Yet I’m totally caught up in their lives. Some of them give me easily digestible bits of humor and fun, and others make me think for days. Some of them are as hard on themselves as I, and I couldn’t love them more for it. I know you know some of them, but not all of them. I read a lot of undiscovered greats, in my humble opinion, and I’m learning about new ones every day.

This is getting obnoxious. And I’m still leaving people out. See why I hate this?

So here is what I decided. I am going to single out one blogger, and I’m going to put her over there in my sidebar next to the superslick E is for Excellent badge, under “Current Blog Crush”. As I feel like it, I’ll update this box – so if you see your blog over there please grab the badge and pass the honor along. Just don’t spend a month obsessing over it like your neurotic hostess.

Officially, I’m passing this award on to Karey of Mackin Ink. Karey is a midwestern mom of three daughters now living in the middle east. Her writing is easy reading, and just unique enough that I’m always left feeling like I just finished some sort of profound fairy tale. There’s a lovely mix of deep and light, of rich fudge and pink sprinkles, and when she really decides to grab you by the lapels and tell you something important? The results are astounding. Not only that, she’s a generous soul. Trust me on that one.

So there you have it.

I think I’ll go dust off my old wedding album, or maybe obsess over how many bloggers I likely just alienated with this post. Or maybe I’ll try to figure out just what it all means.

Maybe I’ll just go sunglasses shopping.

To all of you, whether I linked you before my head exploded or not, thank you for reading, and thank you for writing. I love the idea that there are all these words floating around out there in the universe for anyone who cares enough to catch. Every day I need a bigger net, but I’m grateful.