This morning I was going through my email and noticed a pingback to an older post. Just old enough that my first thought was, “Darn I have spam.” Except it wasn’t spam it was this. Those wonderful ladies at 5 Minutes For Mom featured my little old blog on their weekly Say it Forward carnival. I was, to put it simply, honored.

It was so strange to read about my life on another person’s blog – like the things that I do are so fascinating that they are actually worthy of comment. “Jennifer and her husband recently moved from New England to Wisconsin and she works hard to make the most out of the transition.” That’s true, we did do that! “Jen also unashamedly adores her husband, has recently cut meat out of her family’s diet, and is always quick to share the yummy moments of her day.” All those things are true! It sounds so cool reading it, like, “Wow I’ve got a pretty interesting life.” I’ll need to remember this stuff next week when I’m bored and wishing my life were more interesting. Because, dude, I’m a recognized loyal commenter of 5 Minutes For Mom (check out my nifty button in my sidebar)!

I am so humbled by my five minutes of fame that I immediately wanted to share this awesome feeling of recognition. So I’m saying it forward today and telling you about one of my loyal commenters and devoted bloggy friends.

Have you read the Stuff Jen Says?

Because if you haven’t, man, you really really should. Jen is one of my favorite bloggers and not just because her parents have terrific taste in baby names (but seriously, they do rock). I always look forward to Jen’s posts from the serious to the not so serious (usually they are the latter). Jen’s blog has given me countless moments of inspiration as I spend time drooling over her fun layout and nifty graphics, steal her memes shamelessly and envy her clever party ideas and recipes (her taco salad is amazing). She’s a fantastic source for funny videos and she always keeps it real.

Jen and her family are going through a tough time right now. You need only read through the last several posts on her blog and you will know what I am talking about. I’d go into detail but it doesn’t seem like my place to say… or maybe I don’t want to write the words because maybe not typing them will make them less real somehow? As naive as that may sound… It’s not easy to see a friend going through a hard time, especially such a sweet, funny, inspirational and fellow gifted writer type friend. I’d like to jump across the country and be with you right now, and share some of my cute baby moments (and the trying three year old moments, too, since that only seems fair), or say something monumental or perfectly fitting that will make things more okay, but I don’t think I have those words in me (or the money for a plane ticket) so instead I’ll just give you the gift of bloggy acknowledgement (it comes with a shiny new blog button) and hopefully send some exciting new traffic your way?

Here’s your Loyal Commenter Badge, Jen. May it bring you lots of traffic, good health and maybe some rum? I’m not really sure how this thing works, but you never know…

Seriously though guys – if you read one blog today, make it Jen’s. You won’t be sorry.