Kindness.

Remember when that blogger tweeted for prayers because her baby had fallen in the pool? And then that horrible sucky lady was all, "I don't think this is even true. I think she just did this to increase her stats. Who would twitter at a time like that anyway?"

I'm here to answer that question: ME. I would twitter at a time like that.

Last week, I twittered and facebooked and blogged the loss of my mother-in-law. And I didn't do it to increase my stats and I didn't do it to impress you all with my fabulous prose. I did it because, from the very first 140-character update at 10 o'clock on Wednesday night from the ICU, I received an incredible outpouring of love and support from the online community. The kind words and notes of good thoughts and prayers became the one thing I could rely upon to get me through the heartbreaking events that unfolded.

And the thing was, I never expected it.

I mean, I expected a little bit of it. I expected maybe a tenth of the @ replies and DMs and text messages and wall posts and comments and emails that I received. I never expected to be so completely overwhelmed with such heartfelt messages. I thought that things like that only happened to the online A-listers but what I've learned is that this community doesn't really care who you are when you're hurting. It reaches out and gathers you up in its virtual arms and says, "Don't worry...we got you."

And it made me cry. A lot. Like every time I'd check my messages. Because I just felt so loved.

I wish I could personally thank each and every one of you who reached out to me last week. But I wouldn't even know where to begin. So thank you. And you and you and you and all of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I do not have the words to express how very, very much it has meant to me.