Welcome back to the second string of odes to kick off the Secret Ode Day project (see the post below if you're just tuning in for the first time). From this point on, Secret Ode Day will pop up unexpectedly. We may have another ode day three days from now, or we may not have another for a couple of weeks. Whenever I have a critical mass, I will post a set of odes.

Want to join in the love fest? Write a paragraph (or two or three) about your favourite blog (or blogs!) and send it to thetowncriers@gmail.com. The archives are now up and running via the Festivities icon on the side bar. I have also posted a brief description of the project as well as the answers to these frequently asked questions:

• Anyone can submit one.
• You can write one about someone who has already had a paragraph written about their blog (there is no limit to how many odes can be written about a person).
• All paragraphs are posted anonymously.
• You can write about more than one blog (giving each a separate paragraph). If you're in a particularly loving mood, feel free to write ten of them!
• You do not need to have a blog to submit one.
• Whenever I have a critical mass, I will post a new Secret Ode Day entry. All entries are archived on this post (see below).
• The beauty of Secret Ode Day is that just because your blog doesn't show up in the current post doesn't mean that there won't be a paragraph about it during the next post. And just because you appear in one post doesn't mean that you won't be mentioned in the next post too. It's just always a surprise--sort of like waking up in the morning and finding the trees decorated with lollipops.
  
• If you have a submission, send it to thetowncriers@gmail.com. Be sure to include the url as well as the blogger's name if possible.
• If you want to write one about me, create a fake email account to send it. All entries are kept anonymous from the blogger. So the only way to keep it anonymous from me is to make up a fake name and email account!

The Odes of the Day:

Megan at Exile in Kidville

Megan amazes me. Her gentle heart shows through in all her posts. I like her sweet sense of humour. She has only been blogging for a few months, but has already gone a complete round on the roller coaster of hope and loss. Nevertheless, even when her loss was still only days old and raw and fresh, she came round to comment kindly and thoughtfully on other people's blogs. She is a genuine good person and I find myself caring deeply about her future story.

The Painting Chef at The Painting Chef

The Painting Chef makes me laugh so hard I've trained myself to put my tea DOWN before I read her posts for the sake of the keyboard. She is wry, cynical and her ferocious rants leave me with a vicarious glow of satisfaction. And she has that rare and very cool ability to be kick-ass funny and yet occasionally, at the very same time, vulnerable and sweet. Just occasionally, mind you.

Tina at My Many Blessings

My Many Blessings was the first blog I came across that wrote about miscarriage. In addition to stories about her son, she shares stories about her three lost babies. It was comforting to read about positive things in her life despite such heartache shortly after my own loss. It appears that she has many readers, but she takes the time to respond to comments despite her hectic life. I really appreciate the help she has given to me during my grieving process.

Chris at Love, Hope, and Faith

Chris was the first regular reader to my blog that I am aware of. She always posts positive comments and is very encouraging despite her own recent loss. She tries to support others even through her grief.

Spanglish/Teresa at Welcome to the Cysterhood

Teresa inspired me from the moment I first found her (first) blog. She writes so openly about her students, her marriage, her struggles with faith and life in general. She has made decisions that I'm simply not strong enough to make. Her support has been unending, even when mine faded. She is simply an amazing and extraordinary woman whose life I feel honored to gaze into when I read her blog.

Lindsey at This Side of Pregnant

Lindsey's writing gives me chills. It is so beautiful and so heartfelt. It has brought me to tears many times. Her quest for peace in life and in her current pregnancy are nothing short of admirable. I look forward to reading each of her posts--she paints pictures and feelings with her words.

Another ode to Lindsey at This Side of Pregnant

I've read blogs for years, and I find many of them touching, but this one takes top honors for me. I found "This Side of Pregnant" from a Friday Blog Round-Up, and I was hooked right away. The way that Lindsey writes is so well thought-out, so from the heart, and so down to earth. Very often I find myself tearing up from happiness or sadness or whatever emotion Lindsey is choosing to express. Even though I don't know her personally, I feel that I have so much in common with her. That feeling of connectedness is what I think we are all looking for. Lindsey does such a wonderful job at expressing herself and connecting to her readers and I look forward to many, many more posts from her in the years to come.

Michelle at Infertility Loss...and Life

Michelle has endured more than any woman ever should. And somehow she keeps getting up in the morning and she keeps working towards this goal of starting her family. I'm humbled by her strength. I truly hope the end of her agonizing road is near.

Larisa at The Waiting Womb

I am always wowed by Larisa’s writing. Her posts are touching, heartfelt, and downright poetic. It was after reading her ability to articulate a mixture of emotion and information that I realized I might be able to set up my own blog. She often writes like I think, but does it in a much more eloquent way. She had a series of posts from April 10^th – April 19^th that still stick with me.

My Name is Larisa, and… (April 10^th)
Waiting (April 15^th)
Happiness (April 17^th)
Today, I feel (April 19^th)

I distinctly remember how I felt when I read these posts, they took my breath away. She spoke from her soul, but it was as if she was speaking directly from MY soul too. I have never met her, and given our disparate geographic locations, probably never will, so it’s surprising how much I seem to care about her. I am absolutely thrilled that she’s pregnant, and include her in my prayers every night so that this baby will continue to grow and bring her and Jason many, many years of joy.

JJ at Reproductive Jeans

I love the way that JJ writes, and her enthusiasm is positively infectious. I remember laughing out loud at her recent post about The TP Tango. It was like she had been in the bathroom with me, but without the embarrassment of her actually being there. After reading her blog for a few months, I knew that she was someone I genuinely liked. This feeling was solidified after I joined The Braces Bunch. Being a part of this group has been a wonderful experience, and it wouldn’t have come about without the initial idea and subsequent effort of JJ. She’s selfless, funny, and just a downright good person. I heart her.

Becky (Teamwinks) at Are We There Yet?

I have had the pleasure of conversing with Becky outside of her blog, and she is every bit as warm, wonderful and genuine as you suspect. Her posts make me smile. I have always particularly liked You Might be an Infertile If. If you read that and don’t laugh aloud at least 5 times, then you are from another planet. Her ability to hit on topics and emotions that we can all relate to is uncanny. Also, the grace and wonder that she has displayed since welcoming Lucky into their family is simply beautiful to watch. I look forward to reading each new post that she writes and feel fortunate to know her.

Dino D at Frozen...Not Fossilized

When dealing with recurrent pregnancy loss you have a couple of options--you can let the diagnosis throw you to the ground and pummel you or you can carry on. This woman welcomed me with open arms in spite of my age and hope addiction and knew exactly what to say whenever I was faced with yet another dismal beta. She was one of the first people to send some hope my way when I emailed with the news of the current pregnancy and throughout it all she has been a friend. Now here's hoping that she finally gets her little girl.

DD at TKO...More or Less

She's strong and honest and so generous even when it hurts her to be. She has given me some of the best emails to help me through the hard times. She has encouraged me when I needed to be encouraged and has not said "thanks" for the idiotic advice when I've emailed "helpful" thoughts. This most recent loss has made her open a new site for all of us with losses to remember them. So they are not forgotten. She's contemplating the next step and has a birthday coming up as well.

Jill at Knocked Up...Knocked Down

When I first started I felt a kinship. Her feelings were so similar to what I was feeling. She became a great email friend and offered info in the hopes of beating this awful diagnosis. She is quiet for now because she is healing from another loss as well as the loss of her father. Yet she still carries on.

Jenderbender at Land of the Infertile

This blogger has been through so much heartbreak and through some of the worst things I could ever imagine (and not want to imagine), yet she's still hanging in there. I go to her site regularly wanting to check in on her, to give her support, and to have a little hope that maybe one day she'll have some good news that lasts. She's got so much going on and the fact that she's willing to share that is really incredible.

Serenity at Serenity Now!

Serenity: Sensitive, smart, sincere, supportive, sage. Sometimes snarky, but seldom snappish or snobby. Sweetheart of the Sisterhood!

Another ode to Serenity at Serenity Now!

Serenity is my favorite blogger and not because we’ve become close. It’s because even when things are tough she doesn’t get quiet (like me) she works it out in her writing. She shows us community when we might not even feel like being a part of one and she makes me really think. I mean really think about life and the IF journey. Many days I wish for her pregnancy as much as I wish it for me. Her candor is the best thing about her--she doesn’t mystify things, she just lets you have it and brings me, with each post, to a different point in my mind, heart, marriage etc. She is an amazing woman.

Watson at My Dear Watson

Well what is there to say? You can just point to the tears of joy and laughter that every single one of her posts conjures up for you. She is bright and lively, she is real and honest, she is open and funny. You feel like you’re her best friend even when you only know each other online. She makes IF something to write through. Of course the best part of her blog for me is the HOPE, the place where you can see that no matter where the journey takes you there are good things ahead. Funny things, impossible to imagine things, but good things.

SoCo at Southern Comfortable

I like SoCo’s blog a lot, mostly because I too am Catholic and whenever I need a little reference point she always gives it to me. Plus she doesn’t judge and she writes intelligently with wit and with heart. Her IF journey took her a different way than mine did for me, but in many ways, when I read her words, I feel a kindred spirit and a woman of substance that stands by her beliefs.

Bea at Infertile Fantasies

Here is the blog I wish I wrote; the woman I wish I could be. Jealous doesn’t even come close to how I feel when I read her posts. I feel everything with her. I am inspired to be a better person because of her. I am asked to think deeply when she writes and I do. She is a painter with words and each picture is really more beautiful than the last.

Katd at They Grow In Your Heart

What courage, what strength, what heart this woman has. Adoption is done by thousands of people every year. Yet in reading her this year, I found a new respect for the feelings of not only the person adopting and the adoptee but the woman who is creating an adoption plan for her child. Her warmth and dedication to make sure that Lily has all parts of the people who love her is an enviable pursuit for any of us. It takes an amazing person to love their child enough to share her.

Flutter at Flutter of Hope

I am drawn to her as a friend and a fellow Catholic. When she writes I feel so many things. I think she has a way of just making me feel comfortable in her space, like sitting with a good friend in some comfy chairs. I think that when she writes about conflicting feelings that it really hits home with me and when we talk religion she brings me back to faith; to hope. Her words make it okay to feel healed in many ways.

Erin at PCOS Baby

Erin’s blog is probably the first that I started reading about PCOS. Other than the fact that we have the same cause of infertility, I was drawn to Erin because she writes with such honesty. I love the way she writes about her little boy, so much so that reading about her secondary IF made my heart break. It is so obvious that she is a wonderful mom and that she deserved more than her secondary IF was dealing her. When she and J decided to adopt from Ethiopia, I was so over the moon for them (And so this blog became the first that I read about adoption.). The tone of Erin’s blog changed--she seemed so happy again. Her strength, courage, determination and love are so inspiring to me.

Shlomit at You're Still Young!

I’ve read Shlomit’s blog from the start and have always admired the frank way that she writes. She let’s us know everything--the good, the bad, the ugly. Through her words, she allows us into her life and lets us see how difficult this journey has been for her. My heart broke when I read about her canceled IVF (I sat here and cried and cried), and thought for days about how on Earth she was going to move forward (especially after the teenagers on the bus). She has shown me what true strength is, for each day is a new one, and may hold a smile or a little hope. She is simply amazing.

Keep them coming. Whenever I have a critical mass, I'll post them. If you've been moved to write about your favourite blogger (or bloggers) or want to pay it forward with an ode of your own, email me a paragraph at thetowncriers@gmail.com.