Hope 4 Anissa

It was a lovely summer evening in the windy city. I couldn't believe that I was actually there, standing in the hotel lobby, waiting with a bunch of women I had never before met. Many of them knew each other, chattering away excitedly, talking about previous activities of the day, or the last blogging conference that they had attended. I however, didn't know a single one. The introvert in me wondered again, "What am I doing here?"

I then boarded the bus with the other bloghers, looking forward to what would be the first of many events of the evening. And this vivacious bundle of energy sat down in the seat just across from me. She had been moving from conversation to conversation, not missing a beat. I recognized her, as her blog was in some of the same circles as others that I frequented. It wasn't just any blog - she writes with passion and poignancy, with honesty and hilarity, and you would be guaranteed to be glued to your screen once you logged onto her site(s).

But I didn't know her, and we had never met. I was lucky that day.

"Hi, how ARE you?", she said to me with the wide smile on her face, in the most welcoming tone, as if we'd known each other forever and we had just had coffee a few days earlier.

I was great, especially after meeting the wonderful Anissa Mayhew.

(Sandy, me, Anissa, Jim)

Meeting and chatting with her for just a little bit at BlogHer was one of the highlights of the experience for me.

After Chicago, I kept up the conversations with her whenever I could, via her blog(s), twitter, always reading while stifling a giggle or grinning from ear to ear.

Now that my life has changed somewhat since that fairly carefree summer, I have to admit that I have been delinquent in the blogging aspect of my life. So imagine my shock when I read yesterday, that Anissa had a massive stroke last week and is now fighting to recover.

What???!!! After all that she and her family have already endured. She is only 35 years old!

This isn't right. So I'm posting for Anissa, for her family. I feel so helpless, and this seems so very little. But it is something. Go here for more info on how you can make a difference. (I'm losing my blogging chops as there's a beautiful button that I can't get to work on here...).

She is fighting, hard. And we're hoping for that miracle.

(for updates from her husband, check out her original blog)