Nadine Silverthorne

The incredible power of online mom communities is the talk of the world these days. (Some of best girls were on Oprah this week for crying out loud!) There's talk about the power of their words to change policies and promote brands. But what doesn't get talked about often enough is how powerful they are when one of their own is in need.

Over my five years of blogging, I've seen these women rally together time and again. And this week was no exception. L.A. mom and blogger, Heather Spohr, tragically lost her two-year-old daughter, Madeline Alice Spohr on Tuesday. Those who were following Heather's updates on Twitter and her blog were instantly heartbroken. (I would link, but everyone in the mom blogging world is linking and, at the time of my writing this, the server is down as a result -- but the mama bloggers are working on that too.)

Within hours, the mom blogging community got together, blogging to ask people to donate to the March of Dimes in Maddie's honour. They were Twittering to get everyone to wear purple in Maddie's honour, to have a drink at 4pm in Maddie's honour... I can't tell you how much I adore these women and how proud I am to consider myself one of their peers. If you put yourself in this mom's shoes, can you imagine how much strength you could glean from an entire community sending you their thoughts and prayers in your time of need? Pretty powerful stuff.

I can't explain to non-bloggers and those who don't consider themselves blog readers how this feels. How do you tell your family you're sad for someone you've never met, but feel you know intimately? I did not know Maddie or her parents, not even in the blog sense, but I was immediately saddened by this story. Of the various perspectives moms published to deal with their feelings about Maddie's death, here are a few that moved me:

• Maggie at OK. Fine. Dammit.
• Christina at A Mommy Story
• Stefanie at Baby on Bored
• Flutter at Flutter (Not sure if it's cool to share her first name. I just loved that a four-word post could be so moving.)

Thought that was sweet? Check out:

• Mother of all mom bloggers, Heather Armstrong/Dooce's side-splitting look at pregnancy and motherhood.
• Blogs We Love: Bunch Family, A Peek Inside the Fishbowl, Attack of the Redneck Mommy.