Blogger Recognition Award

Somebody noticed. I’ve been nominated for a Blogger Recognition Award by askagimp. askagimp is the mother of a son on the autism spectrum and herself has Marfan Syndrome. Her blog fosters better understanding of people with disabilities and/or chronic illness by allowing able bodied people to ask anything that they are curious about without offending anyone. The author of askagimp remains anonymous so nobody has to be embarrassed asking her questions regarding the challenges she faces. Her blog isn’t just about challenges though. She includes craft projects, product reviews, and some delicious recipes.  Actually she has two blogs. The second is Pregnancy on Wheels as she chronicles her new journey through pregnancy in a wheelchair.

I’m very honored that somebody might be moved enough by my tales to formally recognize my little blog. I’ve been a bit under the weather this week (read “at death’s door”) so I haven’t done much and I needed something to talk about today anyway. So… this came at just the right time! I am instructed to:

1. Show my gratitude to the person who nominated me and provide a link back to the person’s blog.
2. Give a brief story on my blog.
3. Share two or more pieces of advice for beginner bloggers.
4. Choose 10 other bloggers to nominate.
5. Comment on each blog, letting them know they’ve been nominated and provide a link to your award post.

As much as I have been able, I have expressed my gratitude to my secret admirer, hmm, unknown nominator. I too am still quite unknown. I started the Real Reality Show Blog as an alternative to TV’s “reality shows” that in my opinion diminished reality as observations of life encountered at work and play and things seen and read. I hope you find these posts as entertaining as the reality you find on television.

Over these years my reality has changed. When I started I was hale if not completely hearty and gainfully employed as a department manager in a national hospital chain. Now I’m more than slightly older, a cancer survivor slowed again by kidney failure now on dialysis, both of those conditions brought on by living with a rare vasculitis that will someday be the death of me if the rest of reality doesn’t get me first. Although my life is defined by what I am and limited by what I can do, I hope to still be able to share my reality and hope others see as serious as reality is, it’s really not all that serious. Nor always all that real. It’s like me. Sometimes funny, sometimes hungry, sometimes pointed, always honest.

One thing that hadn’t changed is my anonymity. You’d think on a blog pushing reality I’d be a little more real and say who I am. Well, I do. I am you. An underlying theme of the RRSB is that although these are my stories they’re your reality as much as mine. There’s nothing I’ve been through or done or said or wrote that isn’t out there for you also. Whether that’s taking a week’s vacation on an island in the Caribbean or having major organs surgical removed. Hey, that’s reality. Sorry.

My advice for any blogger is to be as real as you can. If you can’t write from your heart at least write from your fingers. The key word in all of that is “your.” You’re you, nobody else. Don’t be anybody else. Don’t try either.

Now the hardest part. Nominate 10 other bloggers. Everybody in the blogging world deserves to be recognized. That’s not going to make me take the easy way out and say “you’re all good, you don’t need me to single you out.” Because even though you all are, you do. So I will.

Although I follow a LOT of bloggers, these are the ten that I will read every word of every post they publish. Another thing that singles out these people are that when I discovered them and began following their on-line adventures is that I went back through their archives and read everything up to the point that I began my follow. For some that was a handful of posts, for some it was hundreds of posts. They were all gems. There are probably others out there better than these but I haven’t found them so to me these guys are the tops. I love you all. So here in some, though not obviously particular nor particularly obvious order, are my top ten.

1.  Quiall at Butterfly Sand, a gentle soul who graces us with at least a quip each day and a story each week. On her “About Me” page she claims to be fabulous and has a wonderful life and nobody can rain on her parade because she has an umbrella. She also has MS but you’d not know it unless you read her about page.
2. Peg at The Tempest and the Teapot, admits to being a mother, a daughter, and an aunt, but not a monkey’s uncle. She’s actually a great story teller, a terrific photographer, and a chainmailler extraordinaire.
3. Quinn at When Do I Get the Manual says consistency is key but she is always losing her keys. She is a young woman struggling with learning the ways of adulthood. Her stories are so real with experience so well chosen you have a hard time believing she’s still learning her way around life.
4. Alison at A Pierman Sister hasn’t posted much recently but when she does her stories are honest, fun, and dying for company as she travels through home and family and sometimes different parts of the world. Please write again soon.
5. WD at WD Fyfe is my blogger doppelganger. He thinks everything I do but says it so much better. WD bills his blog as a sideways glare to contemporary society. If his posts seem polished that’s because he’s had a lot of practice writing having published several books with the best cover pictures in the business.
6. Angela at That Extra Inch is the daughter I never had who would be the perfect sister for the daughter I did have. Although on her about page she claims her biggest problem is not knowing what she wants from life, her posts describe a woman with a clear vision of what she wants and goes about getting it. Most of the time. Sort of. She’d still make a good big sister.
7. Belle at Read Between the Lyme started her blog after she was diagnosed with Lyme Disease which was after she was misdiagnosed with many other diseases. I share Belle’s initial struggles in finding the doctor who can figure out which of the thousands of unexpected conditions to walk into the waiting room. Her stories aren’t just of struggling with Lyme Disease, they’re of struggling with life and the amazing journey it is.
8. Leona at Leona and Alexander chronicles the adventures of a modern family attempting to recapture the charm of yesteryear.  Although she claims they live “in the Heart of Dixie” I swear I ran into most of her same scenarios north of the Mason Dixon Line.
9. Dale at Tip of My Iceberg says, “Unless you know what to look for, it’s relatively easy to assume that what you see is all that you get.  Much like people,” in her “About” page. Her stories are warm and real and show her faith in God, family, and self.
10. Nicole at NicoleSundays counts “Can’t Count” among her Five Most Unnecessary Facts on her “About Me” page. She counts very highly in the humor department as she takes us through college life and emerging adulthood in the 21st Century.

So those are my top ten. Actually, 10 + 1. The plus one? My nominator, askagimp. Anybody who loves oatmeal that much is ok with me!

So you know the drill, copy the rules and do what you’re told. Or not. You’re still the real things.