The power of a blog

When Elise — Cooper’s friend and colleague, and a dear friend to our whole family, (a steadfast support to Ash and me as we try to rebuild a new chapter, and now my incredibly patient unofficial web developer - sorry for all the messages and questions, Elise!) — suggested I start a blog, I had to Google what a blog even was.

Of course, I said, “Sure,” pretending I knew exactly what I was agreeing to. I didn’t want to seem like some old person completely out of touch. So, I looked it up and tried to wrap my head around what blogging actually involved.

From memory, nowhere in the definition did it say a blog could become a lifeline.

But that’s exactly what it’s become.

Writing down my thoughts — putting them into some kind of order — helps me process what’s swirling around in my head and heart. Reading it back while proofreading gives me a strange sort of clarity. It slows down the millions of thoughts that usually bounce around uncontrollably.

It helps.

And then, when I want to share those thoughts with the people who matter, I can just send a link.

Yes — eventually it goes public. But in doing so, I hope it might help someone else navigating their own version of loss.

So, Elise, maybe to you it was just a casual suggestion: “You should write a blog.”

But to me, it’s become so much more than that.

It’s helped me find my voice again. It reminds me that people used to care about what I had to say — and maybe, just maybe, some still do.

Thank you, my friend.

You are a godsend. A lifeline.

And a forever friend — to both Cooper and to me.