What's on your mind?

Close your eyes.

Wait, not yet.  I want you to close your eyes and think about the most memorable or powerful moment you have had thus far being a parent.

Ok, now close your eyes.

Um, you can open your eyes now.  Do you have that moment in your head now?  Hold on to it...

Personally, I have quite a few of those moments that were defining of me as a parent - some were pleasant and others would be fine if I didn't ever have to relive them again, but nonetheless they were all memorable and powerful.

Ok, so here's the deal...because I'm sure you are asking yourself, "What's the point of all this Melissa?"  Hold up people!  I'm getting there...

I'm going to do a little writing contest.  Yes, you heard right...a writing contest.  Oh boy.  And for those of you who are wondering: THIS WILL NOT BE JUDGED ON GRAMMAR OR PUNCTUATION (lest I be judged, right?)  So here's how it will work, and what is in it for you (the coolest part):

You will email your most memorable moment to my email: melissa@thejoyfuljungle.com and then for the next couple of weeks I will post them on the facebook page for the blog (see that little thing on the right side with the Facebook logo on it?  Ya, click on that and "like" the page and you will get to be a part of all the wonderful conversations...)  But here's how we are going to determine the winner.

1.  Transparency
2.  Lessons learned
3.  Humor
4.  Grammar and punctuation (Ha!  I'm just joking)

Here are the people who are going to decide who wins

1.  Me - because, well, it's my blog.
2.  Dave - because you always need a man's input on things of this nature, right?
3. The fans of the Facebook page.  As I post different entries on the page, all input from the fans will be         carefully considered - because I care :)
3.  And my friend Gwyn.  Why Gwyn you ask?  Well, I will tell you why Gwyn.

Gwyn has a cute little children's clothing line where she hand makes everything called Three Little Monkeys.  She is a mama of a boy named David (I like that name A LOT) who is 1 and she is prego with her second (which I am convinced is a girl).    Gwyn has offered to make something for whoever wins our little contest - which I don't know about you, but handmade CUTE clothes are hard to come by or INCREDIBLY expensive.  So, since Gwyn is making the prize she gets to help decide - that's why Gwyn.

So let me sum it on up for you:
1. Write a super cool little diddy on your most memorable experience as a parent (You have till the 4th of August, so get to it!)
2.  Send it to melissa@thejoyfuljungle.com
3.  I will post entries up on the Facebook page for the fans to comment on.
4.  We (Me, Dave, Gwyn and the FB fan) will decide who wins...
5.  And then whoever wins will get a super awesome hand made one of a kind thing for your little monkey.

Pretty cool if I do say so myself.  Oh, and if you have any awesome writer friends or people you know who have some great stories - send them on over.

So start writing!!!!