CAROL BURNSIDE / ANNIE RAYBURN

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In this world of social networking and everyone spewing out their daily minutiae, you wouldn’t think that one woman’s very personal angst would make people take notice.

You would be wrong. So wrong.

woulda, coulda, shoulda is written by Mir and her angst is so eloquently presented in blog form and with such heart ripping honesty that I cannot NOT be touched by it. But I must caution you with the utmost sincerity: Do not visit her blog if you can’t handle raw emotion and deep truths. I’m serious.

Others, many others are deeply affected by her.

You hear it in their stuttered responses in the comment section, their need to comfort in whatever small way they can. The post I’ve linked to above has–at the time of this writing–over 580 comments. Most (I imagine) have never actually met the woman they feel such compassion for. I wonder how many others are like me, reading, weeping, feeling wholly inadequate to offer anything that could remotely be considered words of comfort.

Mir is intelligent and quick-witted. She’s funny and matter of fact, and in the same sentence, can take your breath away or bring hot tears rushing to escape. Her written communication skills are inspiring. Her ability to deal with life as it rushes at her like a head-on collision with an eighteen wheeler and remain relatively sane is nothing short of a miracle.

Among other things, Mir deals with the aftermath of divorce, a blended family, pet issues and multiple medical and mental illnesses in family members, any one of which has the potential to destroy her world. She is an exceptional human being who is quite adept at making herself sound as ordinary as you and me.

Do I know her personally? No. I don’t even know if ‘Mir’ is her real name. Such things are inconsequential. It’s the content of her blog that sucks us in and brings us back again and again.

We are the metal, she the magnet.