That’s right, folks. In addition to the changes you may notice on this page, I will shortly be adding (or, shall I say, subtracting?) another. Beth is shutting down her blog.

She’s flirted with it for awhile. We entertained it together, in fact, she and I, as our blogs languished over the summer months. But where mine seems to have revived (or, at the very least, is hanging on), she’s making this ending official. It’s the end of OJ.

This is sad for me for several reasons, not the least of which is that Beth is the reason I have a blog in the first place. She gave it a go long before I was ready to, and then was able to answer my questions about it, and encourage me, and help me find out that it really wasn’t all that difficult. She demonstrated that a blog can be a great way to keep geographically distant family and friends not quite so distant, and that a blog is great way to keep track of all the wonderful and not so wonderful things one’s children might be up to. And she helped me feel not so afraid or paranoid that having my children’s photos occasionally on the world-wide-web would not necessarily lead to stalkers in our neighborhood.

But the end of “OJ” is more sad because now we are going to miss out on posts like this one and others that I am, apparently and suddenly, unable to access. Is it so nearly over already that I am unable to access previous posts, Beth?

Of course it is far, far more sad for you, O Reader, as Beth is not one of your best friends. I mean, I assume that this is generally the case for my readership. Most of you do not know her as I do, do not love her children very nearly as much as you love your own, do not see her sometimes (and is it okay?) as an extension of yourself and so are absolutely free to tell her and hear from her Absolutely Anything that needs telling or hearing. I will still get the updates on the children. I will have those children in my home. I will hear the musings of Beth’s mind.

You will not.

So go, would you, while you can, and get a last peek at this blog. Enjoy the photos (they are wonderful), enjoy the prose. And hope with me that the internet will get another shot at Beth’s wit, that she’ll find another venue in which her wry and benevolent soul can give us a glimpse of the Inside.

When and if she does, you’ll be the first to know.

The post The End of an Era appeared first on Rebecca Brewster Stevenson.

always knows how to get at the information you need when you yourself are Completely and Utterly Flummoxed.

watches more television than you do.

loves cupcakes and cake candy.

checks your blog daily and even reads old posts twice and three times when there’s nothing new there because she really loves your writing.

has a home that you find Immensely Comforting.

introduces you to Target.

doesn’t laugh at you when you are (surprisingly) Really and Inexplicably saddened by the sudden death of JFK, Jr.

can really make you laugh.

calls you every day when you are suddenly at home with a newborn and everything seems so new and you are more frightened of it all than you realize and the only local family you had just moved to Alaska.

encourages you to apply to grad school.

allows her children to watch more television than you let your children watch.

starts a blog before you do and so Gives You Courage to try it.

can make you laugh at yourself.

lets you be the caregiver for her six-month-old son even after you (accidentally) lock him in an overheating car in North Carolina on an August afternoon or (accidentally) lose control of his stroller so that he goes over a bit of a Drop and the stroller ends up upside down (and he is unhurt).

frequently makes comments in your blog because she knows that makes you feel good.

decides to start a book club and invites you to join.

organizes said book club so that it meets (somewhat) regularly.

secretly believes that Oprah is the anti-Christ.

forgives you for missing her joke because you were so self-absorbed at the moment she uttered it.

has Incredibly Cool paint colors in her house.

invites your book club to the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College and organizes the trip completely and even lends you money for tuition.

has unwavering faith in God even when He appears to be up to No Good.

likes salty things just as much as you do and so always has chips around.

makes you feel like you might actually be a wonderful and even exceptional person.

isn’t offended when you use colorful language because you are being vehement.

listens while you hash out the same struggles again and again and again.

listens while you talk about writing a book.

listens while you talk about writing the book you are writing.

doesn’t wonder why the heck you don’t just finish the book already for Pete’s sake.

thinks that the things you have been doing of late are really overwhelming and so of course it would be fine and even appropriate to get an extension for your Masters thesis.

introduces you to bratwurst.

has children that you truly truly love Very Nearly As Much as you love your own.

will meet you for coffee at any time.

will come over before your child’s birthday party to help you prepare or stay during the party to help you survive.

has soda that Isn’t Diet.

forgives you (again) for being late.

holds a slumber party for her fortieth birthday.

is a wonderful and exceptional person whom you are grateful to know and even more grateful to consider one of your Very Best Friends in the Entire World.

Happy Birthday, Beth. I am So Glad you Are.

The post Everyone Needs a Friend Who appeared first on Rebecca Brewster Stevenson.