One Year

One year ago today I started this blog. I began this as a kind of a practice run on actually putting one together. I had taken a workshop on how to use the site for work. I wanted to kind of experiment with the site, but didn’t want to connect it to my work as I wasn’t too confident in my abilities. It is best not to look like an idiot professionally. I prefer to save that for friends and family. In the end I have been totally shocked that anyone actually reads it. The idea that anyone would actually want to hear about what I have to say is novel to say the least.


I spent a large portion of my life not sharing things that were going on for me. As a result, I often felt extremely isolated and alone. Through a series of events in a 24 hour period that dealt me such a shocking blow I had no choice but to talk. My body had begun to shut down on me. I couldn’t eat, and I could sleep. I lost 15 pounds in two weeks. Now mind you I had a 6 month old baby so I still had a few pounds of baby weight to lose, but not 15 pounds worth. So I shared. I talked to the people closest to me, and they listened. I shared everything. And for a person who for so long had shared nothing. It was amazingly liberating. The most amazing thing for me was when you are feeling totally isolated you think it is just you. I can remember at one point at talking with a friend and saying, “It really can not get any worse.”

He looked at me and said, “Ang, I think you need to stop saying that.“ I started to laugh, or maybe it was cry, they both just kind of ran together in those days. The point is to find out that other people view a situation exactly the same way you do is so empowering.

This blog has become an extension of that same openness. I will always fight those inner demons that spout negativity. The amazing reality for me though has been that at the times when I write about the most stress I am under, people write back with a connection. It is a constant reminder that I am not alone. The people that have sent me comments and messages about how much they enjoy my stories about my girls amaze me. I am a single mom with a huge support network and I am grateful for it.

It doesn’t matter how you make it through something. What matters is that you make it through, and once you make it through you should reach back for someone else who needs a hand. When I share something and a person connects (with either a happy or sad event) it lets me know I am not alone. That, to me, is the greatest act of human kindness.

So to all of you who have ever read a post, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to listen to me. For those of you that comment, thank you for writing back with your words of encouragement. I am glad for those that I made laugh. For the few I made cry, I feel a powerful connection because I probably cried in writing it. I will leave you from this long post with one of my favorite quotes (song lyric actually) stuck to my freezer door, “Heavens not beyond the clouds, it’s just beyond the fear, heavens not beyond the clouds, it’s for us to find it here.” May we all find the courage and support necessary to overcome our fears as we make our way to true happiness.