Down To The Last Three

We're down to the last three.

For the past two weeks, I've been doing a series featuring the bloggers in my life I call The Great Depression Slayers of 2010. These bloggers are the first I ever followed. There are only three left to tell you about. I call them the The Great Depression Slayers of 2010, because though they didn't know me, they were there for me. They didn't know who I was, yet each of them pulled me through a year that just about knocked me flat.

Before I tell you today about the fabulous blogger I followed home after being smitten with her from an appearance on a morning talk show (I no longer remember what show -- Kathie Lee? but I do remember her), I have to say here that these bloggers I came to know by far reflect what the majority of the blogging community is:  reachable, supportive, encouraging, truly the best of humanity.

I've been so very fortunate that my life intersected with the lives of these women I've been highlighting this month. I have relied on them for the past four years to hold me up with their humor, their honesty, their willingness to toss away false fronts. Some I love because they make me laugh out loud, others because they understand, and ones I adore because I feel accepted and understood by them.

I remember a winter morning two years ago, as I wiped off the kitchen counters from the jelly and toast my kids had just finished, I heard this woman "finslippy" being interviewed on a *mommy blogging* segment of a talk show. That was her blogging name: Finslippy.

Finslippy was being interviewed by I don't remember who anymore but oh, this *finslippy* looked as innocent as a church lady, but when she opened her mouth there was a Side B to this choir angel's Side A. Quirky and quick as lightning with her answers back to the interviewer's questions on *mommy blogging.*  Finslippy dropped her Mensa IQ bombs so fast right and left that I almost felt sorry for the interviewer when I saw the look of panic on her face at the thought of how in the world was she supposed to keep up with this guest. It was aweSOME. Verbal slight of hand so deft and velvety that the poor talk show host had to sneak a Xanax, I swear I saw it.

After the interview, the host wrapped it up with You can follow our guest today at her mommy blog, "Finslippy." And then the screen text flashed www.finslippy.com . I grabbed the closest crayon and paper towel and scribbled in green "FINSLIPPY -- funny!"

A few hours later I logged on to her site. Finslippy was Alice Bradley. I read this post here, about FEAR. Ho my god but if fear holds you back in your life, YOU MUST READ THIS. I clicked on to "previous post," even more Ho my god. She was wonderful. Self aware and popping up her hood for all to see. I fell in deep deep wordgirl love. Woman could WRITE and be the kind of funny where you slap your mouth over your hand aghast because she looks so sugar sweet but she had the balls to say whaaat? Sweet angel face lady ripping people a new one if they needed it done. My kind of human being.

I went to her contact page and emailed her. Alice, I wrote, I saw you this morning on xxx morning show. I thought you were deliciously neurotic then and I've just spent 30 minutes on your blog now and you are even more wonderful than I could have hoped for and I would cancel cable and take that money and pay you $89 a month to read your blog. You are that fantastic. Thank you so much for making me laugh to the point of side aches and tears. Thank you.

She emailed me back. I yelped out loud when I saw her name in my in box. She said, Thank you so much. But now that we have a relationship you must know that I will wonder what has become of you if a day goes by and I don't see you. Yes, it's come down to that. Love, Alice.

I still have that email.

Alice Bradley is woman whose humor can only be described as genius. It is. She is hilarious and unpredictable on twitter and her blog posts are about so much more than just making you laugh. Her writing makes me feel like it's safe and okay to be who I am: which is anxious, concerned, obsessed with non issues, and up to my neck in over dedication and borderline clinical in devotion to my children.

I was able to meet Alice at BlogHer '12, while she sat with the equally superwoman Eden Kennedy of fussy.org, as they both signed copies of their beyond hilarious book Let's Panic About Babies. I saw angelic faced Alice sitting behind the table, in the middle of stacks of her book that tell you in Chapter 5 how to have sex for the first time after giving birth (spoiler alert: get a bottle of wine and just bite the bullet), and I stood there smiling like an idiot, all glisteny eyed with emotional tears at finally meeting her. She recognized me right away -- I have no idea how she did that -- and stood up to give me a hug that no words can describe.

Alice Bradley, I don't know how you grew up to be as special as you are, or what it is inside you that makes you be so good to people, but I am here, thanking you, for being one of the Great Depression Slayers of 2010 for me. For all the sweet laughter during a very difficult winter, and for all those you have made feel *normal* by showing us through your vulnerable and authentic blogging that it's more than okay to let your freak flag fly; it frees you. I thank you.

Finslippy

I love you, Alice Bradley.
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**This blogger was one of the handful so implicit in my making it through the winters and the seasonal depression they bring, before I began my own blog in 2010 and became a part of this incredible online community. During this month, I'll be highlighting the bloggers I call "The Great Depression Slayers of 2010." To the crucial ones I clung to before I began blogging, the ones that pulled me through, I thank you.