heart to heart blog

As we sat down to create this blog for Graco, we started with the basics. What is a blog? Why do they exist? Who writes them and why do people read them? (yes- the BASICS). We got the textbook answers (and it turns out, there are many, many different answers for all of the above.) but then we stumbled upon this blog , and frankly just by reading it, we learned more about the blogosphere than anyone could have told us. Jennifer Satterwhite wrote a great post at BlogHer that shows how this is a perfect example of how blogs create community through conversation and legitimately bring people together.

As we were planning our Graco Get-Together with the DC Metro Moms group, and looking forward to meeting so many great mom bloggers face-to-face, we were excited to see that the ever-inspiring WhyMommy was planning on attending. She was kind enough to wrap up her chemo just in time to attend the party. (although I’m not 100% sure she was motivated to do that just to come to our event) Perhaps what motivated her was the opportunity to meet some of her “friends” and “Team Members” who are big supporters of WhyMommy and of course, dedicated readers of her blog.

Well last week, we saw this incredible video that her friends put together for her which just illustrated why the online community is so powerful and so important, especially with moms. Take a look:

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/3nNjyk_a76U" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

The time and effort that went into this tribute from all the moms (under Midwestern Mommy’s guidance) is one powerful signifier, but even more so, is this list of posts, all titled ‘Tomorrow’, that some amazing moms, bloggers and friends wrote in support of WhyMommy the day before her surgery:

Canape, Mamma Loves, DC Metro Moms, Stimeyland, Lawyer Mama, Queen of Spain, Slouching Mom, Motherhood Uncensored, I Can’t Complain Anymore Than Usual, Two Is Now Three, Two Lines on a Stick, It’s Not About That Anyway, Around the Island, A Decent Bookmark, A Mother’s Musings, The Dairy Wife, Dirty Laundry, All Things Angela, Anderson Family, Kim at BabyCenter, Baby Makes Family, Bubba’s Sis, Bubblewench, Coming to a Nursery Near You, Crazy Bananas, Do You Not Know What Causes That?, Pretty Babies, I Can Fly, Just Not Up, The Further Adventures of SpaceMom, GoodyBlog, Harmony in Motion, Hotfessional, Jen Lemen, Useless Ramblings, Tumble Dry, House of H, Fertile Mertile, What Works for Us, Mountain Momma, Coffee, Shoes, and Ramblings, Dirty Laundry, My Five Little Monkies, My Life As It Is, My Collective Life, Crib Chronicles, Karaoke Diva, Live from the Wang of America, Mom 2 2 Teens, A Bead a Day, Blonde Mom Blog, The Estrogen Files, The Farm House Kids, The Dana Files, The Fourth k h, Growing a Pair, Her Bad Mother, Hormone Colored Days, Just Another Mommy Blog, Just Enjoy Him, Lead Baby, Playgroups Are No Place for Children, Petroville, Phoenix Says, Pundit Mom, Daily Verses, Little Buggas, Sarah and the Goon Squad, So D.C., Chicken and Cheese, Zone Family, Life with Our Little Ladies, Andria and Co., “That” Psycho Family, Sassafrass, Ladybug & Lizards, Parentopia, Plans2Match, Marie Millard, Miss Zoot, Mrs. Fussypants, The Magpie Files, Make Mine a Quad, Nervous Girl, Mommy Needs a Cocktail, Mom, Ma’am, Me, Mommy and the Marine, Monkey Business, Monkeys and Marbles, The Mummy Chronicles, Never Too Late, Okay, Fine, D’it, Ontario Emperor, It’s My Life, Laugh if you Must, Mommy Dance, Slacker-moms-r-us, The Blogs of Life, Midwestern Mommy, Mommy to the Snugglebunnies, PediaScribe, The Pile I’m Standing In, The Ramblings of a Woman, Reality Testing, The Road to Home, TechMamas, Ten Minutes to Naptime, Tiny Mantras, Hearts Wide Open, Baby Cubed, The Butrfly Garden, Reflecting, Sunrays and Saturdays, Amy and Chris, Useless Ramblings, Veritable Life, Mayberry Mom, The Musing Mommy, Wheels on the Bus, Working Mama 24/7, Mommy Needs Coffee writing at BlogHer … BabyMinding, Life with Hannah and Lilly, Mommy … etc., Kat and Rob, My Collective Life

Thank you to all of these bloggers for showing us why community is so important and the significant impact individuals can have when they care about each other.

And Thank you to WhyMommy for sharing so much of yourself. The expression “you get what you give” is clearly the case here.