National Sibling Day

I started this blog in July of 2012 as a way of communicating to my family and close friends.  Over the next 18 months it gave me a much needed outlet.  Writing helped me through a very difficult time but one day I realized there had been 11,986 page views in 18 months.  In the blogging world that is probably nothing but it left me open, vulnerable, embarrassed and scared.  And so I removed it from the cyber world and my life.  But then I read a book...

If, anywhere in your soul, you feel the desire to write, please write. Write as a gift to yourself and others. Everyone has a story to tell. Writing is not about creating tidy paragraphs that sound lovely or choosing the “right” words. It’s just about noticing who you are and noticing life and sharing what you notice. When you write your truth, it is a love offering to the world because it helps us feel braver and less alone. And if you’re a really, really bad writer, then it might be most important for you to write because your writing might free other really, really bad writers to have a go at it anyway. (That's me y'all!  You're welcome ;)

If you feel something calling you to dance or write or paint or sing, please refuse to worry about whether you’re good enough. Just do it. Be generous. Offer a gift to the world that no one else can offer: yourself.

Melton, Glennon Doyle (2013-04-02). Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed (p. 26). Scribner. Kindle Edition.

...and I realized that I was robbing myself and possibly others.  I pictured all those late nights 'googling' scary medical terms and devastating diagnoses.  I remembered all the blogs that helped me to breath and make it to the next day.  They were just normal men and women sharing their story and being vulnerable.

If my posts never help another that is a-okay because writing is a gift to me.  A gift from Him.  You don't have to dance, paint, write, sing or anything else well in the eyes of others for it to be a gift.  It can simply allow you to be your true self.  And now...that means I must stop asking the husband to quit singing.  Sorry babe ;)

It takes courage to share your life with others.  God made each of us unique and that means we will share in very different ways.  It is easy to feel alone in a sea of people.  To get so caught up in pain that we can't see joy.  But I think that if we are brave enough to open up in some way then He will provide a path to connect to others. I think that connection is what allows us to find the joy in the darkest of places.

Several years ago my brother sent me this song and I heard it again today.

Death is at your doorstep,

And it will steal your innocence

But it will not steal your substance

But you are not alone in this

No, you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand 

And you are the mother

The mother of your baby child

The one to whom you gave life

And you have your choices

And these are what make man great

His ladder to the stars

But you are not alone in this

And you are not alone in this

As brothers we will stand and we'll hold your hand

Hold your hand

Timshel by Mumford and Sons

You are never alone friends.  He is always there and we should use whatever means we have to connect to others.  It takes a village y'all.  And sometimes it's a CrAzY village!

Thank you brothers for always holding my hand (or pulling my thumb and pinkie apart as hard as possible!) The world is a better place with siblings...or whatever village you call family!