Friday, May 19, 2006

The Spirit of Giving

Many of you know about the big annual blogging conference coming up called BlogHer. Heck, a big ol' bunch of you are going. I thought about going, OK, I agonized over it. There was a buzz around it when I fist began blogging a few months back and my original thought was, "How FUN would that be? But how silly of me to go to something like that as such a newbie. I dismissed it for the reason of mere Mother-Martyrdom. But a martyr only to myself. See, I have this tape that plays over and over again in my mind, "You can't afford that Tracey. You can't expect to just fly off and spend the weekend doing something fun. You don't deserve it. You're not a real blogger." The dialogue goes on and on. YAWN.

Well, recently I have become aware of some incredible people doing some really generous things. I'm talking about the GIVING of the BlogHer Tickets. First, I came across Sue of Red Stapler who held a contest to give a ticket away. My inner dialogue began to shift. I got all giddy..."maybe I am worthy, maybe the fates will allow me to go by winning this contest, maybe I am a real enough blogger, maybe, maybe..." Hope, confidence, and excitement crept in and I was feeling great. But I didn't win the contest. IzzyMom did. And if anyone deserves to be the recipient of a random act of kindness it's Izzy. And what does she do? Turns right around and GIVES it to someone else. Someone who needed it and is grateful and I'm really happy for her. How can I not be?? So, instead of being disappointed, I am inspired. So much generosity...it's refreshing and uplifting to say the least. Winner or not, Sue's contest gave me just what I needed. A little lift, a change of heart, the glimmer of hope that wonderful things happen all the time and it's through giving that they do and above all that I am worthy and deserving of whatever my heart desires.

And now, I present you Clay Cook from Minti. He has TWO tickets he's giving away for the conference. The kindness-can you take the kindness? At the news, my heart leapt. Another chance! So I sent in my paragraph about why he should choose me and am eagerly waiting word. And, get this one, I wasn't going to blog about it because well, I wanted to win and I didn't want to share. But, that just doesn't feel right. It feels really crappy. So, I've had another shift of the change-of-heart kind. See what all this generosity is doing to me??? It's making me a better person all around. I love when that happens. SO, I am encouraging you to check out Clay's post at Minti about the give-away and try it for yourself, if you're so inclined. Minti is a super-cool site for parents anyway, so be sure to stop by.

Who knows, maybe I'll see you at Blogher, one way or another. And if not, I know there will be a gazillion incredible bloggers that will post about it!

Good luck. And I really do mean it!

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awww. I didn't even know you wanted to go. If I had, I would have had a drawing or something! I'm crossing my fingers and toes for you.

And yes, you DO deserve to fly off and do something fun. You ARE a real blogger and if you didn't believe it before, believe it now. Club Mom does!!!! And so do I :)

(thanks for all the linky love!)

Anonymous said...

yor beautiful spirit radiates right off of your blog... I'm a true believer that generosity breeds generosity, so one way or another I am believing something beautiful will come your way......something reallly beautiful.

Anonymous said...

i just went and checked out minti...tracey! i can't believe you...i'm tempted to enter you...can I?

boho girl said...

i have never heard of BlogHer...so thank you for introducing it to me!

i am always so inspired by random acts of kindness. these generous souls brought a warm smile to my heart.

xo,
boho

ps. found you from my friend Andrea's site (superhero)

Mom on the Run said...

See you at Blogher! Go and have fun, it's very close to my town so that is how I justified treating myself! And, to feel the blogger love!

tracey clark said...

Oh goodie! I'm so glad to have turned you guys on to some great stuff. It does my heart good.

And yes Misha, you'd better enter! (i think)
xo

Wendy Boucher said...

I'm all signed up for BlogHer and I'm very excited about it. I hope that you and anyone else who is interested can find a way to attend. Hubby and Girlie are coming along too with strict instructions to pretend I'm not there (they're going to hang out at the pool).

Susannah Conway said...

I would love to go to the BlogHer conference but alas, i live in the UK. fingers crossed you get a ticket.... thanks for stopping by my blug yesterday - it's good to find you!
Sx

Morris said...

You have to be very shallow and stupid to want to go to a blogher event. It's all women who have very boring lives who feel they have to try and out due each other by bragging about who has the better husband

Mr. Morris
Ask Morris

Chicky Chicky Baby said...

Get out of my mind! I thought the exact same thing about Sue's contest and I entered Minti's contest. If you win and I don't I'll still be excited for you. I'll pout a little, but I'll still be excited.

Maybe if we tag team him with lots of emails he'll give the two of us those tickets. Hmmm...

Mom101 said...

Mr Morris is having fun leaving his bad spelling around the blogworld. Don't let him rain on your parade. This is so cool and I'm uplifted by the idea that there is still a little altruism left in the world.

Anonymous said...

So explain to me again why mr. morris is taking the time to read and comment about all of our "very boring and shallow lives?"

sad.