"Mel, you've helped me in the past. What can I do for you?"

I'm glad you asked, infertility and pregnancy loss blogosphere.

The more messages that go on it, the more committed I am to making the Lost and Found page float. I am beyond committed. I haven't been this excited about an idea in a long time. Why, you ask? Because at the heart of it, we're all time-deprived. I am admitting that the impulse for this page is somewhat selfish because I will use this page every time I'm out of town or swamped by work. We all mean to hit all the blogs we normally read on a given day and then get sidetracked and only get to half. New bloggers who join the community don't receive the support they need because they don't have a dedicated readership yet. A bulletin board wouldn't really solve this problem because people would still need to wade through dozens of messages and questions. And that takes time. And this is about getting all those benefits of a bulletin board without the time factor.

The point to this page is that it's one-stop shopping. If you're away from home and you don't have time to go through all of your daily blogs, you can still check this one place and see if there are any announcements so you can click over and give support. And if you do end up closing your blog or starting a new blog or going password-protected, there is a central spot to get out information--especially to lurkers who may get left behind if they are loyal readers but not loyal commenters.

So the help I need is three-fold. First and foremost, submit news. Think of this as a combination of the front page of the newspaper and an alumni page. Send the happy stuff--pregnancy announcements or birth announcements (even if you think the whole blogosphere knows already) as well as the sad stuff--loss announcements so you can get the support you need. If you have a new blog that started in July or August, list it so people can find you (if you've been around for longer than a month, you've started building your readership by commenting on other blogs). Send anything that may be of interest to the blogosphere--Jenna recently added an announcement about Wednesday's Oprah that people may have missed if they hadn't read her blog yet this week. If you see someone on the Lost list that you know, let them know that people are looking for them. If you're on the Lost list yourself, provide some information so you can be Found.

Secondly, support those who list information on the page. There are people searching for fellow bloggers who have a similar situation in Connections. Click over and let them know that your blog exists. When people make an announcement--especially an emotional one such as a new pregnancy or a loss announcement--click over and give support. Give them a congratulations or a shoulder-to-cry-on. Say hello to people who list a new blog. I know last year was supposed to be my Year of Building Community but let's just say that it has bled over into this year too. We have the power to really support each other and make a difference. This is an easy way to do so that takes up less time than clicking through every single blog on my side bar in search of giving support. Gandhi said, "we must be the change we wish to see in the world." And I try to live my life by these words. I wish to see people come together more, therefore, I created a space to make it easier for people to come together. And selfishly, I draw from that support so I do it for myself as well.

Thirdly, check the page yourself and let others know that it exists. It really only works if people use it. If they not only post stuff, but they read it too. I have been updating it several times a day. People usually only have to wait a few hours to see their words move into the body of the post. There are a few ways to make it easy to check--the url will always be the same (I will start archiving posts at some point and the archive links will always be at the bottom of the main post)