A blogger made me weep today.

My friend’s son died last summer of cancer, at age 16 months. She has a new blog post up about what it is like to move from being a family of four to a family of three. It’s hard reading, but also insightful, beautiful, and so very tender.

A blogger made me laugh today.

Alice at finslippy has a five-year-old son. I have a five-year-old son. When I’m reading Alice’s conversations with her boy, it makes me laugh, laugh with the deep, deep knowledge that I’ve been there. SO TRUE.

A blogger gave me the warm fuzzies today.

I love reading cute stories about kids. That’s why I post so many myself. Mary Lynn at Riding in a Handbasket has a cute one about her son wanting to do his OWN handwashing, thank you very much.

A blogger almost made coffee come out my nose today.

These photos of Heather Armstrong from Dooce at 20 weeks pregnant are a scream. If it weren’t so creepy, I’d print them out and hang them on my wall. Maybe I’ll just bookmark them for a day when I really need a pick me up — or really need to have my nose cleaned out with coffee.

A blogger made me afraid today.

Porter at Porter’s Ponderings had a really hard day when her daughter didn’t get off the school bus as usual. Her story has a happy ending, but reading about that half hour of frantic phone calls and that horrible, sickening feeling in your stomach when you feel your child is in danger…it reminded me how easily your whole world can get turned upside down. The worries of a parent are boundless.

A blogger moved me today.

Shwanda was brave enough to share the story of how her marriage ended — when she discovered her husband of 10 years was gay. Her factual retelling of a very hard time was so touching, it brought tears to my eyes.

A blogger showed me something beautiful today.

I totally want to own a print of this photo, taken by Ottawa photoblogger Robin and posted on his Watawa Life blog.

A blogger made me think today.

This is an older post, but I think that Zoom’s comments on Harm Reduction for Drug Addicts should be required reading for all Canadians and, especially, Canadian politicians. My views on drug addiction have been totally changed from reading Zoom’s blog.

A blogger taught me something today.

Andrea at Quietfish is my go-to gal for crafty ideas for the whole family, and this week I learned how to make bird feeders and custom bird food with the kids. Yet another great idea that brings more fun to our place.

This is what I get out of being a member of the blogging community — the incredible opportunity to meet people from all walks of life, to hear their voices, to listen to their stories.

They inspire me to write more, share more, be more. To really be a part of this community, this world.

* This post was written as an entry in a contest to win a trip to BlogHer ’09, and you all just know I would squeal so loud they would hear me on Venus if I were able to go. Plus, you get to be the online correspondant for Mabel’s Labels, the contest sponsor. Mabel’s Labels is one of the few products I would actually endorse on this blog, considering that I a) use them extensively myself, our entire world is Mabelled Labelled, and b) love them so much that I got our PTA to start a Mabel’s Labels fundraiser despite a maelstorm of PTA politics straight out of a bad Hollywood suburbia flick, and I’d tell you all about it but it would be SO inappropriate to write about here. I swear though, if I win the trip, and I see you at BlogHer, you will get ALL the gossip.