blogme mixer.

blogme is an online mixer in which women bloggers interview one another in advance of the blogher conference coming up this friday, 28 july. to participate, whether you're going or not, click the links below.

meet amanda who blogs at the cat lady and is fellow contributing editor to blogher's health + wellness topic.

1. why are you a blogger? what do you get out of it?
i started blogging as a way to keep me sane when eric and i were
living out in hawaii, thousands of miles away from both of our
families, and i was managing our home/paying the bills/working
full-time/visiting eric in the hospital/managing-advocating for
eric/keeping our families abreast of his situation by myself.  sanity
aside, i kept blogging because i met several bloggers all around the
world who were in the same shoes that eric and i were in, and it meant
a lot to be able to communicate and share with other young couples
living with cancer.

2. what is the best piece of advice you've received?
no real advice, other than a few people recommending some good books
on being widowed or a widower after eric passed away.  but the support
that i've received has been amazing, and i am really thankful for it.

3. have you ever revealed a secret on your blog? if so, what was it? if not, why not?
well...i wrote about eric's last relapse before i had gotten hold of
my parents to tell them via telephone (i had tried to call; they
didn't pick up).  the same thing happened with several friends after
eric passed.  so no real secrets per say.  i don't really have any
secrets--other than personal info, which of course i safeguard just
because it's a good idea.

4. if you could have any view in the world visible from your bed, what would it be?
waimea bay, oahu.  eric and i had a neighborhood slightly north of the
bay where we were going to buy our dream retirement home someday.

5. if you could suddenly find out that one work of fiction was actually true, what book would you select?
the lovely bones...not because of what happens in the beginning (a
14-year-old girl is brutally murdered) but because it's a comforting
meditation on the afterlife.  i wish that someone had a definitive,
factual answer about what happens after you die.  note that i said
"factual" and not "theoretical."

credit for questions 4 + 5: "if2...: 500 new questions for the game of life," by evelyn mcfarlane

[via mocha momma and blogher.]