Several folks have left comments at the previous post, offering their well-wishes. But consider this an open comments thread where the idea is that you post a message directly to Possummomma herself, as if she were reading it (which she will, because I'm emailing her the link to this post). If her blogging has impacted you — and it's impacted many of us — let her know.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
28 comments:
PLEASE NOTE: The Atheist Experience has moved to a new location, and this blog is now closed to comments. To participate in future discussions, please visit http://www.freethoughtblogs.com/axp.
This blog encourages believers who disagree with us to comment. However, anonymous comments are disallowed to weed out cowardly flamers who hide behind anonymity. Commenters will only be banned when they've demonstrated they're nothing more than trolls whose behavior is intentionally offensive to the blog's readership.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Dear Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteI can't recall whether I've previously commented on your blog -- I know I haven't recently, though I have swung by to catch up from time to time.
I began reading "Atheist in a Minivan" shortly after you published P1's wonderful Christmas essay. I was charmed by your occasional photos and descriptions of her and her siblings, and impressed by your writing. I should have told you so; I'm sorry about neglecting that.
And I'm so sorry for all the undeserved grief you've been getting lately. I hope you can focus on relaxing, rebuilding your stamina, and resuming the rhythm of normal family life.
As for the blog, I would love to see it re-activated, but not at the expense of your health or your family's peace.
Please take care, and know that you are very much admired and cherished.
Regards,
Weemaryanne
I don't know you, but know this that you've got fellow atheist survivors out here. All the best.
ReplyDeleteI hope you're doing okay, P-Momma. I, like many others who know about your blog, consider your blog amoung the best we've ever read.
ReplyDeleteI do know that reading your blog has helped to answer questions I have had about the future I'll have with kids, should I have any. Plus, I hold you up as a great role model for those skeptical and atheist parents raising their kids in the world that we have, such as it is.
I hope to one day be able to read your blog again or one day you have a site where you don't have to worry about being attacked simply for blogging and chronicalling how you raise your children.
I wish you all the best if I never am able to read a word of yours again.
Best wishes.
P-Momma, what can I say....I read your blog and enjoyed the the thoughtful posts you had on life with a family, making due, and trying to cope in an xtian controlled world. I wish these people actually looked at themselves first, for the hatred and lies that they attribute to you and other non theists. I and my family are sending good thoughts your way P-mamma. I hope you do come back to the blogging world, for me and the rest of the sane world to enjoy.
ReplyDeleteZel
Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteI am very sad for the situation you have found yourself in. I think you have acted wisely in distancing yourself from the situation.
I never had the chance to read your blog but I was looking forward to it. Having recently deconverted, I had discovered that several people in the atheist community really cared for you and your family. They respected your opinions and thoughts specifically regarding raising children. As much as I would like to see you active in the community again, I would prefer that you not have the stress, instead you should have the peace of mind that you deserve.
So in regards to those of us who did not get to know you, you have made an impact that can be measured and that impact has made at least this person a better man.
P-Momma,
ReplyDeleteI have read your blog for many months now, and even posted responses occasionally. Although not an atheist, I am a recovering Catholic, and I always found your posts interesting, funny, enlightening, and entertaining. It was sad the way a few attacked you, but I believe it was because you hit a chord with them. They, in their worldview, cannot see how someone can be as apparently well-adjusted as you and your family are without God being involved. It did not compute and they felt compelled to attack what they did not... could not understand.
I hope that you choose to begin again. Your perspective is needed and welcome by many.
Thank you for all you have written,
Jim
Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteYour blog was the first blog I read whenever I noticed an update in my RSS reader. I don't even have children, but I read your blog in hopes that it would help me to decide when and if I wanted to have children. Reading how you handled the everyday situations that came up with your children has given me the confidence to raise children of my own someday.
I do hope you start blogging again somewhere, but not if it will adversely effect your family or yourself.
Sincerely,
Ann
Hi, Possummomma! I wasn't aware of your blog before, but I've learned about it through Pharyngula, Martin's blog, and Calladus. Firstly, I wish you and your family the very best in getting through these trying times, and the stresses placed upon all of you by some of these ridiculous insane people. Secondly, I'm not terribly active in the atheist community, but I thank the IPU, FSM, and Darwin's Ghost for people like you who put in the time and effort to lend your voice to the cause of standing up for rationality. Every voice helps, and you have obviously touched a lot of people. Thank you for that! Finally, if you do ever decide to come back to the blogosphere, I'd love to read what you have to say, and you have a lot of friends who will stick up for you. And if not, I'm sure you'd have support for that decision as well.
ReplyDeleteVery best,
kevin
Hi PMomma- from one crafty stamper to another- we met on splitcoast and I have followed your blog ever since - I miss you and hope everything will be ok eventually - hugs to you and yours - culpepper
ReplyDeletepmomma, I'm just one of the many, many ordinary joes who read your blog and loved the content and the writing style.
ReplyDeleteThe post where you thanked averyone after the uv film was installed broke me up.
I'll miss your blog pm, but it will make me infinitely happier if the end of your blog gets the idiots and all the pressure off your back.
Whatever you choose to do, you know your friends out here, and we are legion, your freinds out here will support you.
Stew
I was sad when blog disappeared from my morning read - I haven't missed reading it for ages. Even in the UK, it stuck something of a chord.
ReplyDeleteI do hope that things will improve enough to allow you to restart open posting. Sadly, I can't think of any useful way in which I could help.
Pmomma,
ReplyDeleteI've been reading your blog for a little over a year now and as a father of two, I thank you for sharing your experience on raising children that are able to think for themselves. It's tough to find real information on that aspect of life.
I hope you can get back to blogging someday, but your health and family come first.
Take care,
Dave
Hi Pmomma-
ReplyDeleteI started reading your blog right around the time you published P1's Christmas essay. You were the first atheist blog I started reading on a regular basis, and really one of the first blogs I ever started following. Although I now subscribe to nearly 100 blogs, yours remained one of my favorites; whenever Google Reader indicated you updated, I'd click on that first. I know I never commented much, but I always loved your writing and your ideas.
I'll understand if you decide you need to quit blogging, but I hope it doesn't come to that.
Pmomma!
ReplyDeleteYou're in my thoughts as you deal with the crazies that are apparently moths to your rational flame. I hope you and your family make it out unscathed and a little bit stronger.
I miss your blogging terribly. As a father of two (one just two weeks old today), I looked forward to seeing how another atheist parent raised their children in an otherwise anti-atheist world. Although all parenting is different, just as all children are different, I still took a lot of things to heart, and I'm truly greatful for that.
Take care, be well, and hopefully we'll hear from you soon!
Dear Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteLike many of your fans commenting here, I was introduced to you by way of P1's Christmas essay, and I immediately read all your previous posts. You're more dangerous than Dawkins and Hitchens combined to the fundamentalist community because you show that it's possible to raise wonderful children and live with grace and good humor, despite suffering from a debilitating disease, while remaining rational.
You and your family, through the window you provided, have made a real impact. I hope you get to a point where you can continue to do so.
Thank you,
Jack
Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteI feel sick to my stomach hearing how you have been treated, and all that you have went through!! Seriously, I have tears in my eyes, and my heart aches for you.
I'm not sure if you remember me or not, I've emailed you a couple of times and posted a couple of comments on your blog. I followed pretty closely for a while, and then some interesting things started happening in my life. One of them was the impact of your words and blog on my life.
I lost contact with your blog and following it as I was seeking out my own truth. My husband reads some of the other atheist blogs that have mentioned what has happened, and forwarded the info to me.
You have had such an incredibly positive impact on my life and the hope that I have for raising my children open-minded and able to think for themselves.
I don't know how many times I've thought of emailing you with questions on how you dealt with things, but didn't. I have recently, very recently come to the conclusion that the faith I've been raised in, and started raising my children in is not true. You have been the first that I thought of that I could "talk" too, outside of my husband who has always "wanted" this. I have no idea on how to "leave" my church, or "come out" to my family. If I quit my church going habit, I know that my family will find out. I'm concerned how I will be received should my family know the truth. My family, both parents and siblings, as well as my own, have always been of paramount importance to me, and now they feel even more important, and I don't want lose them. But even with that knowledge, it feels wrong raising my children blind to the realities of the world. You have helped to show me that they deserve more, they deserve the right to be an individual!!
I know this is sort of personal, but I know of no other way to communicate the impact you have had on my life for good!! This is my "first step" to coming out, before this post, my husband was the only one who knew of my changing world and religious views. You truly are an amazing writer, and have influenced many so positively, I'm appalled at the treatment you have received for simply speaking your mind and expressing your own opinion and views of the world you are in.
I will miss reading you blog, your wisdom and insight to some many things in the world and child rearing. But more importantly, although I will probably never have the opportunity to know you personally, I want you to have a good life! I hope that things get better for you, and I'm so sorry for the ignorant, bigoted, self-righteous people that have made life more complicated for you. May you find health, peace, and joy in your children and life. Thank you, for everything and all that you have done for the world. Thank you!!
Dear Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteYou neither need or deserve to be the target of such stupidity. Your health and the welfare of your family should be foremost (which I know you already make it).
I (and obviously plenty of others) will miss your blog, but your well being is more important than our entertainment. Should you decide at some point to resume blogging, I will be back.
Until then know that you have touched a lot of lives and there are people who have never met you that care deeply for you.
vagrant
Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteI somehow(stupidity mostly) missed your blog and it shames me to no end. I never read your stuff but I see now it comes highly recommended. Dang!
I wish you all the best. Stay strong.
Pmomma - just adding my voice to the crowd to say that I miss AIAMV. It was something I checked daily, sometimes several times a day. Didn't matter if you posted lots of new things; you always had thoughtful things to say and most of your commenters helped me see things in a different way.
ReplyDeleteCyberhugs to you, Pdaddy, and the 4 possums!!
Ms. Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteThere's been an boom of atheist blogs and sites in recent years, but yours has been consistently outstanding. Your unique perspective has contributed to the growing nontheistic community in a very real and very appreciated way.
I hope your current troubles are resolved quickly and positively. And while you may not have the power of a loving god on your side, you do have the warm thoughts of loving people.
All the best Possummomma
ReplyDeleteLoved your perspective and eloquence from day one! It's a terrible shame that some people choose to respond so barbarically to a difference in outlook. I hope you're soon able to return to entertain & enlighten us again.
Please know that you are missed.
Hank
PMomma,
ReplyDeleteWhat WeeMaryAnne said!
-Terra
Dear Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteOh do I miss your blog. I also miss you and your absolutely wonderful family. Reading about all of this insanity over at Berlzebub & Calladus, I am having a very hard time wrapping my head around the notion that the internet can be such a dangerous place.
I've really enjoyed your blog, and I want to know that your writing has had an immense impact on how I live my life. Reading about the various things you do with your kids has given me ideas for my own family and I think we are all more alive because of it. Thank you.
Also, thank you for offering help and support when I was frantically worried about finding a better preschool situation for my daughter. Your encouragement and can-do attitude gave me the strength to get up and do what needed to be done. And I ~know~ that my daughter is better off for it.
I miss your blog, but I would feel absolutely horrible if one more iota of harm came to you and your family. Stay safe, be well, and know that there is a lot of love out here. And of course, don't hesitate to ask for help if there is something any of us here can ~possibly~ do.
Possummomma, I was deeply worried when your blog went offline. As an atheist (single) parent, I've greatly enjoyed reading your wonderful writing on family life and parenting from a godless perspective.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your insightful thoughts with "all of us". I hope that we'll be able to hear from you again at some point. In the meantime, please know that I wish you and the p-fam all the best.
- "Steve in MI"
Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteI'm a long time reader of your blog, but somehow I never got around to commenting (a fact I now regret). Your motto of "possum" makes us all think "possumus"! You are an inspiration and I hope this ridiculous, obscene harrasment stops. Best wishes to you and yours.
Dear Possummomma
ReplyDeleteYou do not know me - I am from the UK and I do not normally comment on blogs (something to do with being 60+ and a long way behind with the technology, I suppose). I also have never even heard of your blog before now.
I heard about some of your recent problems and those of your family from PZM's blog.
My wife has long term health problems, most of which are invisible to people, although none the less real. I sympathise with you and wish you and your family well. More than that, I wish you all that you wish yourselves (and a bit extra!).
I am saddened at the unpleasant approach of some of those around you and the grief it has caused. I wonder when they moved away from the second great commandment from Jesus Christ, to love your neighbour as yourself? I cannot translate that into what I understand you have had to go through.
Seems to me that "neighbour" includes those of different beliefs to ourselves.
If this sounds clumsy to you, fair enough. I live thousands of miles away in a different culture and have never had to go through the problems you have so I hope you forgive me.
I wish you a more peaceful future in your life and the help and support of friends who know, love and understand you best.
Alan
I hope you and your family are doing well, Possummomma. I liked your writing and hope that some day you will see fit to share your blog again, in the meantime, I fully support your decision to protect yourself and your family first and foremost. I would have done the same.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes to you.
Dear Possummomma,
ReplyDeleteDon't let the bastards get you down.
We all wish you and your family safety, security, health, and happiness. Take care of yourself and your family.
Don't sacrifice your health for us blog lurkers - but, please, don't think that you aren't appreciated and much missed by us all.
Good Luck
DarkSeraph