It’s coming on Christmas, they’re cutting down trees

This evening, we went to see Santa rappel down the side of a building in Stamford. It is an annual event. Afterwards everyone walked to a nearby park to see the tree get lit.

They’re putting reindeer, singing songs of joy and peace…

There was a musician there, singing about missing a loved one. The words sounded hollow, phony, anesthetized. Today, I read The California Hammonds blog. It was one of those blogs that has popped up as I’ve surfed Blog Explosion

With Blog Explosion, to get a credit, you need to stay thirty seconds. I normally glance at the blogs, scanning them to see if anything catches my eye, as I wait for the thirty seconds to count down. I’ve glanced at The California Hammonds blog a few times, but never really stopped to pay attention.

Today, I read the title, ‘Ghost of Innocence’. The title caught my eye. I read a little further, ‘This morning, I worked with Allie’s third-grade class’. I have three daughters, ages 14, 11, and 3. I’ve spent plenty of time visiting their classrooms, and so the opening sentence drew me in.

I had not read the “Cheryl Links” or “Our Story” sections yet, and it was as I read this post about helping out at school that the story unfolded for me. Please go out and read Greg’s blog entries if you want to hear about someone missing someone they love.

Oh, I wish I had a river, I could skate away on…

While you’re at it, stop by at trucandygirl’s blog. Her husband is serving in Iraq right now. Read her blog entries about how she gets by while missing him.

I’ve looked at love from both sides now…

People are voting on various Best Blog of 2004 categories. Sigmund, Carl and Alfred are offering great reviews of various blogs. Sitemeter, Blogshares and their like can tell you how many hits and links you get. But the real measure is if you are saying something that touches peoples lives. The musician at the tree lighting wasn’t, but Greg and Candy sure are.

Note: Words in italics are taken from River and Both Sides now.

Also, thanks go to Michele Agnew for highlight the Hammonds blog, which encouraged me to go back and add a comment.