Mabel's Labels Makes Dreams Come True

Blogher '09, it's
only a dream to me, I
can't make it happen

The money is non-
existent, if not for that
I'd be there so fast

I want to meet YOU,
are you going? Please, can't you
just take me with you?!

I discovered this
long shot out there and I would
be crazy not to try!

Hey, guess what? The nice people over at Mabel's Labels are going to make one lucky blogger's dream come true by sending them to Blogher '09 in Chicago! You can find more information about the contest here. I would love to be at Blogher '09, but I just don't financially have the means to do it myself this year. So, I decided that I would throw my hat int he ring over at Mabel's Labels. So now, I have to tell you all about what the rewards and benefits have been of participating in the blogger community.

I started blogging 'for real' in the spring of 2008. I had dabbled before, but hadn't done anything to increase my readership or get involved in the blogging community. Suddenly, there I was. I wanted to write, and I wanted to communicate with other writers. I used to write a lot when I was younger, poetry and short stories, but I got a job, got a husband, had a kid, and all of that fell by the wayside. When my husband and I moved home to Bellingham, which is a much more artistic community than where we had been living, I started to feel creative again and realized that I needed an outlet, and that I missed the writing community I used to be a part of.

I wrote, and I discovered. I filled my Google Reader with amazing writers who I admired. I commented, I read about their lives. I laughed and I cried. Some of them came. They read my blog, they commented. Less than a year later, I feel like I am really a part of something amazing. When I have a bad day, I know someone out there has had the same day. When my son does something funny or amazing, I know there are people out there who will laugh or be proud with me. When I feel hopeless, there are voices speaking to me and giving that hope back.

I have learned a lot from these people who I've never met. I have shared their heartache, their frustration, their love and their pride. I have been reminded how blessed I am time and time again. There are those I know if I met them in the flesh that I would be starstruck, even though I know they are normal women from day to day. There are others that I imagine it would be like seeing an old friend again, and others that I would run up to and hug as hard as I could then buy them a martini.

There is a special bond between mothers, between writers, between women. I have seen amazing things here - when someone experiences a tragedy, I have seen the word spread like wildfire until hundreds of people are praying for peace, for recovery, for whatever is needed. I am able to use the time I have to pray for people who really need it.

I write for them. I write to share with them. I write to tell my story to those who will understand. I write to have a voice. I write to let someone else know that they are not alone. I write because I am compelled, because it's in my blood. But I do not write alone.

I write, and yet I cannot find the words to express what it all means to me. What have I found in this community? I've found myself again.

*To read more Haiku Friday posts, click here!*