by David Elliot Cohen from the library, I was on a quest to find other families who had taken extended round the world trips together. That's when I found sixintheworld. At that point, the Andrus family was in the midst of their travels. I loved what I was reading and seeing, so I quickly went back to the beginning of their journey via their blog posts and marveled over each and every post. From then on, I followed them until they returned to the states, and then kept reading.I was saddened to learn of Anne's initial cancer diagnosis, and I kept her and her family in my thoughts and prayers through the ups and downs of her illness. Their blog updates were scarce, but I was always excited to see a new one and hoped for good news every time. The last one I read just after we returned home from our road trip, and I cried as I read Anne's husband Tom's eulogy post, Celebrating an Amazing Lady.
Although I didn't know Anne in real life, I did feel that I knew her in some small way from reading sixintheworld. It's an odd feeling, to have a sense of connection with someone I've never met. That's one of the wonderful aspects of the blogging world, I suppose. It's pretty awesome to have the medium to influence, inspire, and share; both for the reader and the blogger.
Reading sixintheworld exemplified to me the possibilities available to anyone with the will and desire to follow their dreams. I saw a large family doing something I wanted to do, but that felt so impossible. I'm grateful to the Andrus family for showing me that the impossible can become possible. I don't know if my family will ever travel round the world together, but I do know that a few years ago it felt impossible that I'd ever be able to drive my kids across the country on a road trip, and this summer I did just that.
Anytime I hear of a young mother dying, it shakes me to the core. Since reading that Anne Andrus died, I have had a hard time not dwelling in the darkest recesses of my heart, where I hold a fear of leaving my children motherless. I love them so much and don't want to miss a minute of them growing up. But more than that, I don't want them to miss me and to know what it is to be a child with no mother. Who knows what the future holds, but I hope I will be around for a long time. Nonetheless, I try to live in the moment because no one knows what tomorrow may bring. Thankfully the Andrus family took their dream trip when they did, because as soon as they came back, Anne got sick. In the same spirit, I try to maintain a sense of joy in our family; to provide my kids with a strong foundation of love; and to do my best to ensure that they have a multitude of happy memories to hold close forever. Today is important; it's all we have. The time to recognize and move toward our dreams is now. The time to do what we love and say "I love you" is now.
Have you ever been deeply inspired by something you've read on a blog?
No comments:
Post a Comment