I hope you are well

I've been thrown for a bit of a loop these last few days. 

First, there is something close to me that has caused me some worry and thrown in some stress for good measure.  There is nothing I can do about that, so this little control freak is having a wee bit of a problem with that.  Um, I'm working through it.  Not well, mind you, but I'm working through it.

Second at the moment is the fact that Dylan's dog, Swayze (now ours), is just standing next to me and staring.  Every once in a while, she gives a little yawn-snort to get my attention.  I can't for the life of me figure out what she wants.  She's been out, she's taken care of business, and I just let her lick the ketchup off my burger plate.  What?  What?  Doesn't she know I'm stressed!!!!!  Ah, but we love that girl.

Third, there are a few bloggers I'm worried about.  Mocha Mama was taking a break because she was having her website redesigned, but was planning to be back in time for NaBloPoMo.  Hello, Momma!  It's November 11 already and you aren't back yet!  I'm worried about you.  She was recently in the audience and got to talk directly to Oprah on her show about a month back.  That night or the next day (the day before?), she fell and bruised her ribs badly.  She also cares for her elderly mother.  Her absence makes me concerned that she isn't healing well or something has happened to her mom.  Mocha Momma, aka Kelly Wickham, is an assistant principal in a middle school in Springfield IL, a single mom, prolific blogger and writer for Teaching Tolerance magazine.  And she's wild about shoes.  That's the short list.  She is truly brilliant, has great insight and perspective on issues of education, race and more, and has a HUGE heart for kids.  Yeah, I'm jealous and she scares the bejeebees out of me.  I'd love to meet her, but I think I would fall so short of the honor that I'll just fawn over her brilliance and wit from afar.  I hope she and her loved ones are well.

The other blogger I'm worried about is Lisa, a blogger from Maine.  She wrote under the blog titles "Living My Life Outside the Box" and "9 Bartlett" with an address beginning "sophie4me".  When she first began blogging, she wrote almost daily:  about life, about decorating, about her children, about her faith.  Gradually, she seemed to get caught by the incessant guilt that appears to hit bloggers on a regular basis---performance anxiety.  She found herself so focused on the "have to write a post" syndrome, that I think she lost some of her passion for the task.  Boy, can I understand that.  Been there, done that.  I wish that I could write on a more regular basis, but life seems to get in the way so often and, sometimes,  becomes too overwhelming to just sit and write.  Then the guilt hits.  Anyway, for the last year, Lisa's posting became more and more scarce.  Some of her posts let on that there were some storms a-brewing.  I could see that her heart ached.  Just the other day, I visited her site to see if there was new post, seeing the last one was from August or so.  Nope, not a new one.  This morning, when I checked quickly before work, my heart took a little leap.  The blog has been deleted.  Not privatized, but deleted.  Oh, no.  Ooh, no.  So, I worry.  I worry about her son, a soldier in Afganistan.  I worry about her teenage daughter who is spreading her wings and bringing angst of her own.  I worry about Blue Eyes, the husband she adores.  And, I worry about her.  Wherever you are, Lisa, whatever you do, I hope you are well.  I hope your loved ones are safe and I hope life is good.  I hope that your disappearance from the blog world is for all good reasons and that you are healthy and happy.  I hope you have peace.

And as for the rest of you, I hope you, too, are well.

Always,
Jan