Blogger Appreciation Award

So, I was debating whether to post about last night at the studio (executive summary – it was great and I stayed for the entire party) and then I get this notification talking about this award.  Gee, I wasn’t even aware I was nominated.

The rules appear to be this:

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.
2. Use the award image.
3. Write a paragraph of something positive about yourself.
4. Nominate and notify as many bloggers as you wish.

Looks like I can check off #2.  Let’s do the other easy one and take care of #1.

The person who nominated me runs a blog called “making peace with the wrong side of 40”.  Her 10 things about me said her name was Cindy although her author name is Cynthia.  At some point, I probably should have asked her preference so I’ve just included both to be safe.

Instead of a simple thank you, I’m going to tell a little story (groan!).  While my blog is mostly about my adventures with ballroom dancing, I’ve discovered over the years that I kind of like this writing thing so I introduce random things from time to time.  Somehow she stumbled on to one of my posts and started following me.  As I do with all new follows, I headed over to her blog to get an idea of what she’s about and I ended up liking her story so we are mutual followers and blog buddies (sorry if that sounds silly).  This is one of the nice things about social media because I think if you put our life stories side by side, you wouldn’t see a lot of common ground but the power of the internet has made it possible to form a virtual connection.

But it is the different backgrounds that makes it interesting.  She’s been in some bad places in her life and now she’s building a new life and I can see it isn’t always easy and there are difficulties.  I have a real admiration for people with the strength and courage to face those battles and keep coming back so I’m rooting for her and I want to see how her story plays out.  Oh, and she fed her dog venison and a cupcake for Valentine’s.  How great is that.

Well, now we’ve done the easy part and here is the hard part.  Write a paragraph of something positive about yourself.  Ugh.  Actually, that might be easier than I thought.  My whole relationship with the work daughter is pretty positive.  Or maybe I should talk about what it might say about me.  One line that pops up in a lot of descriptions about INFP’s is that we can care deeply about those we are close to.  And she was the perfect example.  Something about her circumstances and her ability to just keep working through all the roadblocks and keep chasing her goals really spoke to me.  The thought that I may have had a hand in shaping the life of another person is a weird but very powerful feeling.  When she gave me the gift at her graduation, it touched me deeply.  I had another person leave at one point and her last words to me was that I was just very kind.  So, for whatever reason, I guess I’m an OK person.

And now we come to the last thing which is to nominate others.  I made a joke to Cynthia about these awards being the electronic equivalent of a chain letter.  She assured me there were no evil spirits.  Still, I’ll just limit it to one choice.

She’s a fellow dancer and a lot of us go through similar things in learning a new dance, in dealing with progress and goals and in dealing with the complicated relationship that is pro/am.  One of the best parts of blogging is hearing similar stories and knowing you are not alone.

But, she’s also a breast cancer survivor.  She’s been open and frank about her treatment and her recovery.  I have been lucky to not have anyone close to me go through this but I have found it to be truly informative to hear her stories and to know just how much of a fight this is.  And how much of a fighter she is.  Her stories and the way she continues pressing forward to achieve her dance goals has been inspiring.

She calls her blog BCBallroomDancer.  Hope she doesn’t mind the tag.