eSpecially Ben

Today, a neighbor jogged by our house. I stopped him briefly to see if he had received the candy thank you I left for he and his wife in their mailbox. He had seen them and eaten his M&M's in his goody bag, and since his wife was out of town, he had put them aside for her. I jokingly said that I was impressed that he had not eaten them himself. He shared with me that he thought of doing just that, but in the spirit of the About.com contest , he thought it was best to save it for her. Those words "in the spirit of this contest" lead me to those questions I challenged you to ponder. Was it worth it? Was this the best method to gain a larger audience for my site? Other sites? Absolutely. My daily hits are sometimes as much as what my weekly hits were before the contest. eSpecially Ben's subscriptions have almost tripled reaching a more diverse audience. (More than my mom is reading now.) Would I do it again? No - I think different blog sites should be tortur

These are comments that I received from Facebook, email and eSpecially Ben to the post, Life After About.com Awards . Thank you for weighing in on this discussion and having the courage to say what is on your mind. I will add my thoughts next week. Feel free to post your comments below. The contest, “was it worth it?” Of course it was worth it.  So many things separate us, but this helped us find the ties that bind.  For a couple of weeks, it brought people from all over the country together for a purpose.  Sand spread out on the beach is sand, but with a common interest we made a castle.   --Kevin Was it worth it? A resounding YES.  Should you do it again? YES.  What about the other families, cheating, motives, trophies?  Its clear to me that everyone wins this contest, there are no losers, just bragging rights.  So life can go on, as it will and if some peopled learned more about special children, then the contest accomplished its goal.   --Arleen These are good questions

Better sit down for this one, it's going to be a long one. My friend, mentor and former colleague, Roger McGrath , passed away in December. We coordinated a freshman leadership program as well as taught a class together at our local private university. Roger brought a wealth of experience to his teaching from a full military career. He also made it his point to read everything. If you brought up a topic, he knew something about it and would quickly lead you into an argument about the issues, always taking your opposing view. As one person so eloquently said at his memorial service, "Roger would argue with you even if he was violently in agreement with you." Besides teaching the importance of looking at all sides of an issue, Roger instilled in every person he met, the idea that leadership involves a collaborative effort. His favorite quote was from Lao Tzu , a Chinese Taoist philosopher, who said that when the goal is reached, the people will say they have done it the

I am writing this before these awards are over. Some of you do not realize that this contest has been going on since February 11. Many people did not come into the game until a week ago when the race became frantic. Three and a half weeks of emails, Facebook messages, Tweets and every other gimmick known to the technical and non-technical world of promotion has been used, reused and then regurgitated once more. If I have friends and family left after this, I will be surprised. In a moment of lucidity, I thought about Hartley's Life with 3 Boys and the other blogs trying to do the same things I pride myself in - spreading the word about children with special needs, trying to connect with others and enlighten others about our situation. Something about this race seems contrary to that purpose. Then, my competitive streak takes over, and I am at it again. Some family members have asked what will I do after this is over. Not to worry, something else will take its place. I think

  Logan, dressed as Spiderman, says, "Vote for my bruv-ver."

Vote!

The involvement in the About.com Readers' Choice Awards has been a whirlwind experience for me over the past couple of weeks. The word obsessed has been thrown around by some while I prefer to use conscientiously involved . I admit, I am extremely competitive and I have taken this contest seriously. It has become a family affair. My father advises me to work the phones. My mother has sent emails to every contact she has ever made. Logan asks me every day if I am winning. My husband gives me updates on my statistics before I get out of bed. My step-parents have their office mates, bicycling buddies and extended family all voting for eSpecially Ben . My husband does mutter under his breath that if I put all this energy to other uses, I may be able to cure a disease or run a small country. But that is for another day...and another contest. I can see it now, advertised in The New Yorker : "Person who comes up with best caption for this cartoon becomes President." I

  About.com has added an area to each of the finalists' pages where enthusiastic positive words may be shared. If you have an opinion and would like to encourage others to read eSpecially Ben , then share your thoughts here . Many of you send me personal notes through my email and I save every one of them for days when I need uplifting thoughts. Thank you for doing this - it makes my day every time. If you have the courage to make those comments public, please do so. I truly appreciate all the help everyone has given eSpecially Ben during this About.com Readers' Choice Awards event. The support has felt like a great big giant hug (and that is a virtual hug, because those of you who know me, I am not all that into hugs.) The love is flowing from friends whom I see every day to family members, some who have never met me to those who have not seen me since I was a baby to other friends that have not seen me since high school graduation - you get the idea. And if this is not

I know it is hard to believe, but the Readers' Choice Awards are not limited to just the Favorite Special Needs Parenting Blog. There are other categories to see and other sites to vote on. Check these out and you might just learn something new today: Favorite Special Needs Childrens Book Best Special Needs Online Community Favorite Special Needs Memoir Vote Today - only 2 more weeks!

Okay - I will be honest, I had to check out the competition for the About.com Readers' Choice Awards Finalists.  After looking through the posts and reading about their families and children, I was impressed. They are creative, interesting and educational. Check them out for yourself: Fighting Monsters with Rubber Swords www.schuylersmonsterblog.com/ Garden of Eagan gardenofeagan.blogspot.com/ Hartley's Life with 3 Boys www.hartleysboys.com/ Just a Little Bit Downsy superdownsy.blogspot.com/ Please take a moment to vote.

Thank you for your support in helping to get eSpecially Ben nominated for the About.com Readers' Choice Awards for "Favorite Special-Needs Parenting Blog"! eSpecially Ben is a finalist - please take a moment to vote. The poll is up now at  Vote Here . Please take a look at the poll and vote once a day, every day through March 8. Winners will be announced on March 15.