It’s Time You Knew...

#cowboyupgurlz

There are these women, see? Women who've sent me direct messages on Twitter or emailed me, or posted to my blog. These women, who saw me floundering, make it a point to support me almost every day. You can do it... each of them says, each in their own way. Some send prayers. Some send money. Some send me their stories. Some even send me 'virtual' flowers! Little by little we learn one another's stories... All of them give me strength that I would not have had without them.

One of these women, givelovecoffee, a coffee micro-roaster with her own company, Moon Monkey Coffee, sent me this message one day, after she'd had a particularly hard day herself "...time to live our new mantra, 'cowboy up, girls'... with Tylenol everything will be OK." From there, one of us came up with the Twitter toy #cowboyupgurlz and since then, we've been using it to alert all the other women, living in a man's world, picking ourselves up by our bootstraps and trudging forward in spite of all. Later, she wrote,

"No more apologies take captives under your influence & make a difference in spite of your circumstances. #cowboyupgurlz It's a new day! Your tweet was divine—instead of feeling sorry for myself I felt humbled but not powerless...The act of one-anothering in online spaces, gives a connection to not just pixels but people to share in your circumstances, to offer a kind word, a 140 characters of encouragement to be excellent!

All the best today! Leaning in looking up & whispering our names...

I think that's a great definition of #cowboyupgurlz. "The act of one-anothering..." is apt.

Today, I sit in my old apartment, alone...trying to get the loose ends wrapped up. Trouble is—I get confused when I'm overwhelmed and my attention-deficit takes over and leads me by my nose in circles. Added to this is my pain-level today, which is greater than it's been in months. Ugh. I've worn out my son and his friend, Cain—they have worked really hard for the past week, so I sent them off to their respective dwelling spots to recuperate. Now I have to get the rest of the stuff packed and ready for moving. I am praying someone will be able to help. Can only do what I can.

I sat down and had a good cry. Then I checked my email, and there were notes and tweets of encouragement. Suddenly, what just seemed impossible—seems possible. It will be ok. All of it.

So, to all these women, members of the #cowboyupgurlz club, Yahoo...! I'm going to get it done. I'm going to make a difference, in spite of my circumstances—maybe even because of them...

The angels just told me a secret:

Within the difficulties, the suffering, the hopelessness, there is hidden opportunities for redemption, for connection, for love. If I tackle the problems, I'll find miracles hiding there.

I once painted this little painting for one of the quotes I love, by Saint Exupéry:

Copyright ©2009 Stephanie Ericsson All Rights Reserved.