Below is a collection of posts from February that made me think long after I read them. Whether you are already acquainted with these writers or not, I encourage you to click over to see if these posts are meaningful to you, too.
The Internet at its best, entry 1: We see meanness and bullying all too often around the Internet. So when I find a story like this, I want to share it. Witness this group of women rallying around one of their own during a time of need. BernThis and 6 other bloggers made a video for their friend Ellie, who is battling Stage 4 cancer. Watch here or head to BernThis for more of the story.
Operation Spiritual Airlift from Heather King on Vimeo.
The Internet at its best, entry 2: My friend MediaMum flew to her native Australia several times this year to be with her mom, Susan, during cancer treatments. When she let a group of her Colorado blogging friends know about her mum's imminent passing, we mobilized to send Susan off in a wave of bright yellow, her favorite color. The result was this sunny and day-brightening #Yellow4Susan Pinterest display, courtesy more than 30 contributors.
Jill, a birth mom who blogs at The Happiest Sad, has a fitting analogy about always being on the lookout for something that was lost to you, In her post Adoption is kind of like an Isuzu pickup, Jill says, I know I won't see [the stolen Isuzu pickup], but I think I see it all the time. Because I don't know what happened to it, and I don't know where it is, and what if it's out there somewhere and I miss if because I'm not vigilant enough? What if I stopped looking, and the next day it passed me in the street on my way to work? There is a gap in my knowledge of the Isuzu. That gap keeps me wondering…This is the benefit of openness. Roo will never have to be vigilant, on the lookout. She knows what I look like and who I am.
In her post The "A" Word: Let's Talk Abandonment, Rebecca from Life is Not a Pie compares abandonment to separation. Rebecca is both an adult adoptee and an adoptive mom, and she observes that, though having a highly stable childhood, she has a hard time expecting that anything will last. Is it adoption? The thing with adoption is that it can be difficult to tease out which parts are adoption-related and which parts are just life. Impermanence is part of living; the only constant, it has been said, is change.
Lastly, former VIP LisaAnne loved a post at Enjoying the Small Things. In the post Dance, writer Kelle attends a Valentine's party for people with Down Syndrome, hosted by her local Civitan club. I had to find out why Kelle was at such a dance and I found the incredibly moving story of her daughter's birth in which she shows and tells about her 2010 shocker of all shockers.
Be on the lookout for what you consider Very Important Posts during the month of March — I'd love to know your nominations for the next edition of VIPs.
So many beautiful, fabulous moments mentioned in this post. Thank you for sharing them with us.
When someone is dying, so many people say they simply don't know what to say. That's understandable, because death is such a taboo subject. Yet the internet has given us a gift where we can share our hearts without having to find the words, face to face. And as a result, the Pinterest board you ladies created (and which now has just under 1000 followers), #yellow4susan, has touched my heart, and that of my family in a way words never could. My mum got to see about half of it before she passed away. She loved it. And now we have it forever, and it continues to grow. I can't thank you enough.
Thanks for sharing! Those were all interesting reads and ~will~ keep me thinking.