Voices Of The Year...

This blog post feels awkward - and even a little bit self serving - but I need to share some pretty amazing news that has left me shocked and flattered and more than VERY honored.

This past Monday I received an email from a reader named Andee.  We have never met, but she wrote to tell me that she had nominated one of my blog posts for consideration by BlogHer's Voices of the Year Committee.  And as I read on she said... they chose me.  Here is a portion of the email from BlogHer:

Congratulations!  Our Voices of the Year committees have selected "Without Ever Uttering a Word" to be honored at the 5th annual Voices of the Year Community Keynote! (If you submitted the post above for someone else, please feel free to forward them this email.)
 
Out of over 2,000 submissions, the committee has chosen one of your posts to be among the 25 Honorees in the Heart category.

I was stunned.  Every year that I've been in the blogging world, I would look forward to the "Voice of The Year" list.  I'd go through and read each and every one.  I never - in a million, trillion years - thought I'd see my name on that list.  That thought never even occurred to me.

What is BlogHer, you ask?  From their website...  

At BlogHer.com, you’ll find the best conversations led by women in social media. A curated selection of authentic voices. Life well said.

BlogHer is a community and media company created in partnership with women in social media. Lisa Stone,Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins founded BlogHer in 2005 in response to the question, “Where are all the women bloggers?”

Today, BlogHer is the largest community of women who blog: 92 million unique visitors per month (March 2013, Nielsen Site Census). Engaged, influential and info-savvy, these women come to BlogHer to seek and share advice, opinions and recommendations. BlogHer’s team works hard to bring you the best and brightest conversations, writers and speakers – online and in person. That’s what we do best.

Ironically, I had planned to attend the BlogHer conference in Chicago this July.  It would have been my very first BlogHer conference... not to mention, my first solo trip away without Ed or children!  I was even set to share a hotel room with my friend, Ellen, from "Love That Max."  But then... Gavin died.  And everything changed.  I sold my ticket and we made plans to go to Gavin's favorite place as a family... Ocean City, New Jersey.

As much as I would be so, so honored to stand on that stage with my fellow nominees - and meet many of the women who have inspired me over the years - I really can't think of anywhere I'd rather be than by the ocean.  At least this year.  And anyway, it was Gavin's story that prompted a reader to nominate me.  In my eyes, this honor is all his... I'm just the messenger.  And to me, the greatest honor of this BlogHer accomplishment is knowing that more eyes will be on Gavin.  More hearts will fall in love with him after reading his story.  More people will get to know him and maybe even be inspired by his journey.  Those thoughts make me so happy.

So if you're missing me at BlogHer, I'll be sitting by the Ocean celebrating with my little boy.

Below is the list of the honorees from the "In The Heart" category.  Check them out and prepare to be moved and inspired...

• Alexandra Rosas from Good Day, Regular People for I Wish You Could Have Known Her
• Allison Slater Tate from HuffPost for The Mom Stays in the Picture
• C.J.'s Mom from Raising My Rainbow for My Son's Christmas Dress
• Christie O. Tate from Outlaw Mama for My Internist Said a Four-Letter Word: Lump
• Colleen Thoele from The Family Pants for Before I Melt Away
• Didactic Pirate from Dadcentric for The Man in the Beige Windbreaker
• Ginny Marie from Lemon Drop Pie for The Hair on My Chinny Chin Chin
• Jeni Marinucci from Highly Irritable Blog for Spilled
• Jennie Goutet from A Lady in France for A Sense of Security
• Judy Schwartz Haley from Coffee Jitters for Just Breathe
• Kate Leong from Chasing Rainbows for Without Ever Uttering a Word
• Kathy Glow from Kissing the Frog for Pictures Can Lie
• Katie Workman from The Mom 100 for Today I Feel Like Talking About My Dad
• Martha Bayne from The Rumpus for Knocked Over: On Biology, Magicial Thinking and Choice
• Mir Kamin from Woulda Coulda Shoulda for In the Never After
• Sandra Tyler from A Writer Weaves a Tale for Tuesday's Tale: The Driving Test
• Sheila Quirke from ChicagoNow's Mary Tyler Mom for The Hole in the Middle of the Bed
• Stacey Connor from Is There Any Mommy Out There? for Against the Wind
• Tara Pohlkotte from Pohlkotte Press for Pocket of Sorrow, Six Feet Deep
• Whit Honea from Dadcentric for Between the Groundwork and Soft Foreshadows
• William Dameron from The Authentic Life for The Other Bill

Jillsmo from Yeah. Good Times. receives the People's Choice Award for Heart for Everybody Thinks It Won't Be Their Kid, and the readers for Heart will be:

• Casey Carey-Brown from Life with Roozle
• Ellie Schoenberger from One Crafty Mother
• Melanie Coffee from She's Write

Thank you to Andee... and to the reviewers from BlogHer who had the impossible task of reading and choosing from so many beautiful pieces.  I am still completely overwhelmed.