3. Write about a memory from your early days of blogging.
When I started blogging back in 2007, no other social media platform existed beyond Facebook. Facebook was mostly used to connect to friends and family, but not necessarily for long storytelling or venting about a rough day. And since we were not distracted with Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and the like…we congregated in blogland.
In addition to reading each other’s blogs every day and commenting like crazy, we also went to meet and greets, we traveled together, we went to conferences together, we roomed together. I became invested in how their kids were doing in school. I was influenced by their experiences and I valued their opinions…we became actual real-life friends.
Slowly, the community as I knew it started to dissipate, partly due to competing social platforms and partly because we started to outgrow it. Thinking of things to write about every day was exhausting, our kids got older and that desire to write about every moment faded. But many of us from my early days remained friends. I see their families growing, struggling, and enduring all the punches life has to throw their way through the lens of platforms like Facebook and Instagram. I still feel connected to them even after all these years.
Which is why when I read that my friend Mandy was hospitalized two weeks ago, my heart dropped. I don’t think I’ve seen Mandy from “Harper’s Happenings” since 2013 when we drove to Seattle together for a book signing with The Bloggess Jenny Lawson. I drove the two of us down to Seattle on a hot summer evening, we grabbed a cocktail, marched our books up to Jenny’s desk, and then spent a good hour making YouTube videos in my minivan about absolutely nothing. Mandy is my kind of people but we’re far enough away, and our kids are just different enough in ages, to absolutely never hang out.
Like most of my blogging friends I see her updates and I give them a “like” and I’m fully invested in her and her kids’ happiness. Lately, my heart has been especially pulling for her as she shared struggles over the course of the past year enduring the pandemic with two young kids and a pending divorce. I’ve been eager for her to turn that corner. To find herself happier than she’s ever been on her own two feet with a job she loves and a home painted pink and black if that is what she feels like painting it.
Unfortunately, she’s not quite there yet. Mandy has been diagnosed with a severe case of Guillain-Barre Syndrome and is currently paralyzed from the neck down in the hospital. To make matters worse, she has not had a single visitor due to covid restrictions that will not allow even her mom in to advocate, encourage or keep her company. Despite this, she is considered “lucky” because they were able to get her to the hospital before her respiratory system was affected.
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Mandy’s best friend started a gofundme to raise money for her since she is single, uninsured and the road to recovery for her will be a long one. It’s been amazing to see the old-school blogging community join Mandy’s family and friends to raise money to help her. Her doctors say they believe she can make a full recovery and I thank God for that. Mandy will work hard for that second lease on life and live it to the fullest again just as she was before this nightmare.
It’s crazy to think how this virtual land of writing together can bring us all together even after all these years. I’m grateful for all of the connections I’ve been able to make, but I’d really prefer if nothing bad ever happened to them. And that includes all of you.
Now it’s your turn!
Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!
The Prompts:
1. Review time! Share a book, show or movie you recently enjoyed that you recommend.
2. Write about something you got away with when you were a teenager.
3. Write about a memory from your early days of blogging.
4. Write about something you are looking forward to.
5.Write a blog post inspired by the word: free
John Holton says
You haven’t changed in ten years. Really, you look the same as you did ten years ago. Prayers and thoughts for Mandy.
Abby says
Wow, heavy stuff for Mandy and her family. I’m sure your friendship is a help to her.
Boy, when you got into blogging, you really got into it! I also made lasting friendships that still stand since those early days, but I’ve only ever met two blog friends in person. I do consider them among my closest friends, though.