Happy Esther Day!

My inner nerd will bleed here but I'm totally okay with that.

You could say that over the years, I've become a bit obsessed with John Green's books, the messages that they convey and the endless amount of quotes that I've saved from their pages. I've also become a bit obsessed with the Youtube channel that he shares with his brother: Vlogbrothers, and the community attached to it that is all about decreasing world suck and never forgetting to be awesome. We call ourselves nerdfighters and there is a following so much larger than what you're imagining right now. (I mean, we did pwn Oprah)

Like I said - bleeding.

However, it's not all so strange and we really do evolve around more than being nerds and reading John's books. That is why today I want to extend to you all a Happy Esther Day. Esther Day is about love - not the romantic kind necessarily, but the kind that involves family and friends and really those that you find it awkward to say 'I love you' to on a daily basis.

In a nut shell, Esther Day was set up to remember a fellow nerdfighter who unfortunately passed away from cancer a couple of years ago. Today is her birthday and when John asked her how she would like us all to help celebrate her birthday for years and years to come, she simply wanted us all to share our love with one another. How awesome is that? Her parents also have a fund set up for family's struggling with the financial burden of a child with cancer. The name of that fund is This Star Won't Go Out or TSWGO for short. I'll link up to all of this fun stuff at the bottom of this post.

Putting all nerd-ness aside, I really would like to encourage each of you to tell your family and friends that you love them today. Every single person that you know, every single person that you come in contact with on a daily basis is struggling with some sort of battle. Most of the time you have no idea the pain and the struggle they are fighting - but it's there and it's very real. We could all use some extra encouragement from time to time and often, we find that extra encouragement from our family and friends.

So in remembrance of Esther, a young girl who was taken from this world all too soon - call up your best friend and tell them you love them, or even just send a few text messages. Call your parents or grandparents or someone else in your family that you don't talk to enough and just let them know they're loved. I assure you that spreading some love today will make you feel a little better about life when you lie your head on your pillow tonight.

With that said, I just wanted to say that

I LOVE YOU!

No matter who you are, I love you. Have a wonderful Esther Day.

This Star Won't Go Out: http://tswgo.org/
Free Esther Day Printables: http://andotherpoems.tumblr.com/post/28445303774/august-3rd-is-esther-day-what-is-esther-day
Vlogbrothers: http://www.youtube.com/user/vlogbrothers?feature=results_main