*sigh* It’s Saturday morning and I have no clue what to blog about. There’s so much heaviness out there in the world. Attacks on Union workers who at this point want to hold on to one main thing: collective bargaining - for in numbers we are powerful from setting base pay for a community to having safe working conditions. There’s Japan with the devastation from an earthquake and tsunami, and lastly - but still not rectified - nuclear disaster. At the time of this writing there is an impending threat of government shutdown, which will affect all of our lives in ways most don’t realize. Then there is the seeming willingness of the GOP to put all our lives and futures in jeopardy by defunding Planned Parenthood, Healthcare Reform, heating oil programs for those with low income, feeding kids who may get no other meal that day, or trying to steal the money that we have been putting into Social Security for a retirement its feels like we will never be able to achieve.

But again it’s Saturday morning and we need something lighter.

We need to go out or stay in, whichever you prefer but either way we need our friends and family so much more these days. It’s with the people that we surround ourselves that lighten our load, help us balance our lives and encourage us to find the best in ourselves.

On a personal level, I can’t even begin to convey how much everyone here means to me, whether it’s in real life or online life. I care about, value, and learn so much from each one of you and I think you all should know it. I never thought that my family would grow so much since I first started lurking on a blog for a radio show that I could only hear online. Gosh, what was that over 5 years now? - and was the only place I heard people who talked about things that were important in meaningful ways. "Unfiltered" - you are missed. We may not be as chatty as we once were but that’s okay, it’s not the awkward quiet where you don’t know what to say; it's a comfortable quiet. We've shared big and small events in our lives. We laugh together and some of us have gotten dust in our eyes and freely shared our emotions. It’s all good, as they say.

So this Saturday morning I offer a giant group hug!