{"id":67,"date":"2014-07-08T16:43:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-08T16:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html"},"modified":"2014-12-26T18:09:17","modified_gmt":"2014-12-26T23:09:17","slug":"the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html","title":{"rendered":"The Strangeness of the Internet – Turning on the Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The internet is a very weird place\u2026thing\u2026entity. I don\u2019t really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have spent on it\u2026in it\u2026among it?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
I remember so clearly the day that I started my blog. I was a very lonely stay-at-home homeschooling mom of four little kids. We lived in a neighborhood populated by mostly elderly people, and my children were the only kids for blocks. Every morning, my husband would leave for work, and I would sit in the silence of soul-crushing isolation. After months of being alone, an over-the-phone friend suggested that I should blog. I\u2019d never read a blog before that day, and I didn\u2019t really understand the point of them. After scanning through a few of them, I decided that this new hobby might help to fill in a part of my day.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
That night, I discussed it with my I-love-my-privacy husband. He looked perplexed when he asked, \u201cWhy would you want to share our lives with complete strangers? It\u2019s not like they\u2019ll pay you for it. You\u2019re just inviting people we don\u2019t know into our lives, and for what?\u201d\u00a0The past few months, and especially the past few days, have finally answered him.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
We have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of love, support, prayers, and help from these strangers I invited into our lives seven years ago. Over the years, you have shared our grief and our joys. You\u2019ve laughed at the goofiness of us, and cried with our heartbreaks. This past week, you went with us on the journey through this medical maze. In our worry and fatigue, I laid it before you, and you ran with it.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
My beloved readers forwarded my blog to family members and friends. You harangued people you knew in high school, and the guy who once took you to the prom, to read over the medical history of a child you\u2019ve never met. It didn\u2019t matter, because so many of you know her and love her, even if it\u2019s just through a computer screen. You pushed and nagged, and then began for us a tidal wave of responses.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
We were wading through the plethora of comments when the emails started coming in. In all, twenty three doctors have written to me, offering opinions and advice. They\u2019ve told me where to go from here, and which tests need to come before which others. They\u2019ve told us where to look for answers, and who to ask those questions. We\u2019ve emailed back and forth with specialists from all over the world, and learned much from their willingness to come to the aid of a little girl they don\u2019t know. They have reassured us, and praised our openness to the ideas and opinions of others. They have laughed at the daring of a mom who would ask the world to brainstorm a diagnosis, and been impressed by the responses we have received\u2026and they had ideas. Lots of ideas.<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
We are beyond blessed. I don\u2019t know what that word would be, but we are miles and years beyond merely blessed.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I have you to thank for all of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Seven years ago, I waded out into this strange internet thing, not really knowing what it was. I had no way of knowing what I was doing when I began sharing our lives with a world-full of strangers. I didn\u2019t know then how much I would come to know and love many of you, or how attached you would become to us, and us to you. I didn\u2019t know that here, in our darkest moments, it would be you\u00a0<\/i>who would look for the switch to turn back on the lights.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The internet is a very weird place\u2026thing\u2026entity. I don\u2019t really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have spent on it\u2026in it\u2026among it? I remember so clearly the day that I started my blog. I was a very lonely stay-at-home homeschooling mom of four little kids. We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-67","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Strangeness of the Internet - Turning on the Lights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The internet is a very weird place...thing...entity. I don't really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Strangeness of the Internet - Turning on the Lights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The internet is a very weird place...thing...entity. I don't really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shoved to Them\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-08T16:43:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-12-26T23:09:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rebecca Frech\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rebecca Frech\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html\",\"name\":\"The Strangeness of the Internet - Turning on the Lights\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-08T16:43:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-12-26T23:09:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/a480038559bb99863ca3ba86f368775d\"},\"description\":\"The internet is a very weird place...thing...entity. I don't really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Strangeness of the Internet – Turning on the Lights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/\",\"name\":\"Shoved to Them\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/a480038559bb99863ca3ba86f368775d\",\"name\":\"Rebecca Frech\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53a07a84a2f9a9ba08b14e744e53ae70?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53a07a84a2f9a9ba08b14e744e53ae70?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rebecca Frech\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/author\/rfrech\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Strangeness of the Internet - Turning on the Lights","description":"The internet is a very weird place...thing...entity. I don't really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Strangeness of the Internet - Turning on the Lights","og_description":"The internet is a very weird place...thing...entity. I don't really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html","og_site_name":"Shoved to Them","article_published_time":"2014-07-08T16:43:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-12-26T23:09:17+00:00","author":"Rebecca Frech","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rebecca Frech","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html","name":"The Strangeness of the Internet - Turning on the Lights","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-07-08T16:43:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-12-26T23:09:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/a480038559bb99863ca3ba86f368775d"},"description":"The internet is a very weird place...thing...entity. I don't really know what it actually is, which seems strange to me considering how much time I have","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2014\/07\/the-strangeness-of-the-internet-turning-on-the-lights.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Strangeness of the Internet – Turning on the Lights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/","name":"Shoved to Them","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/a480038559bb99863ca3ba86f368775d","name":"Rebecca Frech","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53a07a84a2f9a9ba08b14e744e53ae70?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/53a07a84a2f9a9ba08b14e744e53ae70?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Rebecca Frech"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/author\/rfrech"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1979"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}