Girl Re-entering World, Slowly

It's my first day back and I'm still feeling as high as I felt when I was carried into the air on this chair!

Before anything, I wish to extend heartfelt thanks to everyone who kept GWP going while I was gone, and particularly Kristen, blog steward extraordinaire. The wedding was bliss, the honeymoon was delicious, and coming back to a blog in full swing was a gift like none other.

Going away gives one a sense of perspective and, upon return, I feel we've really created something here, this lil GWP community. I love the plethora of voices these past few weeks and would so hate to give that up. I LOVED the content our guest bloggers posted (and will be contacting you one by one to follow up and express more personal gratitude)!

Speaking of which, I feel us naturally evolving into more of a group forum -- possibly even a group blog. Do you agree? Please let me know what you think of the idea of turning GWP into a group blog in comments here -- and also if you would be interested in being considered as a regular contributing blogger (you can also email me at girlwpen@gmail.com)! And soon, I'll post a survey to get more of a sense of your feelings.

Meanwhile, a hearty welcome to new readers (traffic and subscription were both UP UP UP while I was away!!), and to you loyal standbys, thank you for being here!

I'm off to catch up on a thousand emails and will be back posting GWPish content tomorrow, but wanted to leave you with my gratitude -- which, as I learned while putting together a wedding toast to our guests, has been called by someone or other "happiness mixed with wonder." That's absolutely what I'm feeling right now, post-wedding/honeymoon high, and returning to a virtual community that has become so very meaningful to me and so very, very real.