This post is a dedication to Laura’s “centennial” post – written in Centennial, CO. Laura started writing in June of this year, which equates to more than a post every other day. As I watched Laura write her last 10 entries I noticed she was nearing her 100th post and it seemed only fitting that I celebrate this achievement it with a write-up that looked back on where it all started. As my gift to her blog I’m also going to categorize her posts with labels and add a “tag cloud” onto her sidebar. As many of you know Laura loves organizing things, so I think this will be a neat feature to introduce her to.
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| Beautiful Laura |
Most of the Ta-ta Times posts have been written by Laura, a few have been added by family. Before diagnosis, I remember we had talked about her starting a blog. Someday she would say, well maybe, we’ll see. It was our need to have a way to communicate to family and friends, once Laura had received her triple negative breast cancer diagnosis, which drove her to get the ball rolling with the blog. That is still the core reason the blog exists, but there is also now the hope Laura has that her blog may reach further than the people we know, to a stranger in a similar position who will see that cancer is not the death sentence it initially feels like, and can be lived with, with grace, humor, dignity. It does not mean the road ahead only consists of potholes filled with sadness and loss, it really is a new beginning, an opportunity to embrace the things that matter in life and find out who one really is.
Laura has always been a prolific writer. She has always kept multiple journals going; she enjoys writing with her pen pals and sharing back and forth email threads with those willing to invest the time. She’s a creative individual, has been known to be a colorful doodler in her earlier years and has been told she has an ideaphoric mind from an aptitude test she once took. Ideaphoria is where ideas jump from one to the next and don’t stop, building like a crescendo. As it turns out, her blog turns is a great outlet for this ideaphoria - as well as a great way to share important information with loved ones.
There is something thrilling when a blogger clicks “publish” and the newly minted post is available to the public at large. One never knows who is reading what’s been written and what might be commented on, or how the post may have a butterfly effect on readers from all parts of the world. There is a visceral excitement when one looks at the visitor count statistics and looking back on all those articles that have been written over a period of time, that is now a memory fading in the authors mind. It is a part of the soul frozen in time, put into a somewhat living venue for a possible eternity.
I know Laura enjoys reading and responding her post comments. It drives her to write and share more and helps her get through the tough days. The blog is a two way street, an interactive venue between author and readers. I’m left with a great smile knowing how much joy being a blog author gives Laura and to see it blossoming into a passion, that it is helping her on her journey.
Before Ta-ta Times was conceived Laura made lists of possible names for this blog she was thinking of starting. She had picked the current name out on her own, I didn’t even know about it, although she did throw a couple ideas my way. Picking a blog domain name is a very personal decision, much like naming a child. It will become something you can put all your love and energy into and the world will then do with it what they chose. I love the name she found. It is an aptly fitting title and will serve her well however long she decides to keep writing posts. Laura recently made her blog public and it is now indexed by Google. This hasn't changed her site traffic much, but the hope is that someone going through a similar experience may stumble upon the Times and find solace in what Laura is sharing.
Like many bloggers Laura sometimes has dry spells, the proverbial writers block, but she is smart and builds up topics in her post queue when she is going through the ideaphoric periods, where the ideas flow so fleetingly it is hard capture them all before the next washes over the previous, like waves cresting in an ocean of thoughts. This is part of the excitement in maintaining a public blog.
Laura’s blog is her gift to the world and a way to channel the creativity and thoughts that bubble up and put them into a form for friends and family, and the occasional stranger, so that they might breathe a little easier, laugh, and shed a tear sharing these very real life experiences, which touch upon what it means to be alive and live the human condition.
