By Dr. Margaret Rutherford, Miss June 2016

It’s a little hard, three and a half years later, to pick out my “fav” posts.

But that’s what I’ve been asked to write about, in this, my final week of being Miss June on Arkansas Women Bloggers.

I’ve loved doing it. Thanks again to the powers that be for inviting me to the party.

Like a first child, my first post has to be one of my favorites. I initially began blogging about my empty nest experience, terming it NestAche. I didn’t quite know what people would think, presenting myself as being totally vulnerable and acting the part. But write it I did, just the way it happened. My first full day of empty nest… I’ve gone on to write several posts on the topic, with one of the more visited (and pinned…) being how to prepare for empty nest before you ever get there.

But then, the second child comes along, and you love them just as much. I liked this post, about letting go with intention, because I knew I was moving on in my own journey, with empty nest, with blogging, with my life. It was a marker for me.

Times really were changing, and I was changing with them.

The third child turned out to be twins. Written within a few months of one another, they are by far my most popular posts. On very different subjects, and launched from my new website, I was floored by “going viral”. This initial post on Perfectly Hidden Depression (PHD)  sparked more than a hundred private emails to me. People wanted me to know how relieved they were — that someone was describing their lonely and painful life. I have since become passionate about the topic, and am researching and writing a book.

The second twin was fairly casually written in my sunroom, right before my 24th wedding anniversary. I wrote about what marriage was for me, and what it wasn’t. I called it “Marriage Is Not For Sissies.” 50,000 shares and 200,000 FB likes later (on The Huffington Post) and I was almost catatonic. I was skewered for using the word “sissy,” which I had no clue had any homophobic meaning, and HuffPost changed it.  It’s what my brothers called me when I was scared of something.

That taught me to Google things before I wrote them down.

Two others bring a tear to my eye — both about my own personal life. And grief. I’ll let them speak for themselves.

The first about my friend Gary.

The other… my mom.

I’ll keep writing. On PHD. On marriage and midlife. On mental illness, confronting its stigma and getting appropriate treatment.

My hope is that one thing is evident in each post, no matter what the topic.

I am trying to help people believe in change, believe in healing — and believe in themselves.