There Are No Words...

I love words. I talk constantly (we’ve discussed this before), I devour books in single sittings because I just cannot get my fill fast enough (while largely ignoring my child and household duties), and I like to think of myself as a writer (okay, maybe just in the still and dark of night in my bedroom, but still).

But today, I have no words. No words at all.

In the blogging community there are about a bagillion “mom” blogs and an extremely large percentage of them are written by stay-at-home moms. While there is nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom, I just couldn't relate to a lot of them, so when I found Bridget’s blog (Stumbling TowardsPerfect) I knew that she and I would be friends in real life if we ever met.

Over the last year and half we have become great friends, I told you back in July that she and I wanted to attend the Blogher ’13 conference in Chicago but there is so much to it than that.

Bridget is one of those people that will always remind you how good you are, how strong you can be. She’s one of those people that just gets how life can be crap even to good people and how hard it is to strap on your boots everyday and keep going up that hill.

When I wrote about losing my job last June, she was the first person to encourage me to follow a new dream, to find a new path for myself.

When my whole world fell apart this winter and I was struggling to put one foot in front of the other on a daily basis, Bridget was the one that told me, “I want you to know how incredibly strong of a spirit you have and I don't want you to ever, ever buy in to the feelings that you are alone and failing --- because YOU. ARE. NOT. I just want to give you a big old hug!” (Who says that to a person that they have never met in person, half a continent away?)

Bridget is the person that you ALWAYS want on your team because you know that everything she does will be done 150% because that is just the kind of person that she is.

Yesterday morning when I opened up my Facebook page and saw a picture of her youngest daughter on it, it was like all time just stopped moving as I read: “Rest Peacefully in God's arms my sweet sweet angel. 10/5/01-10/24/12”.

It can’t be true, it can’t be because Dotter was a good, good girl, because Bridget is an awesome friend, because these things can’t happen to people.

Only they can. And they do. Even though it’s not fair, and it’s not right, it happens.

Bridget's 11 year-old-daughter died in a tragic car accident on Wednesday night. Her posts on Facebook and Twitter have been heart-wrenching, honest, and raw. All I want to do is get to her and give her a big old hug.

Those of us in the blogging community that love and care about Bridget and her family are joining together to raise money to help with their expenses. The website is With Love for Dotter. 

We know that no amount of money will ever replace the sweet, sincere, and lovable girl that she held in her arms. We know that nothing that we write or say will make the pain less or reverse time, but at a time like this, the LAST thing that a parent should have to worry about is money. 

Please consider going to the page and donating any amount, even if all you can do is leave a message of hope and support. We need each other in this world, especially at times like these.