Oren Miller died of lung cancer yesterday. You may not know him. I didn’t. Heck, I only exchanged a few words with him, literally, over the last couple of years. His loss, however, is great. He touched many lives, including mine.
He started a group, Dad Bloggers, which I participate in. You may notice on the right side of my blog the “button” for the group. It started out with just a few dads who have blogs wanting to connect, to network, and support each other. It has grown to over 1000 members strong. It is an active group. We support each other acting as resource for technical questions, content questions, bouncing ideas off of each other, but more importantly we are there for each other.
In many ways the dad blogger group is a gigantic support group. It is a safe place for us to talk about whatever we need to. When one of us is having a problem we can find whatever kind of support we need there. Logistical, technical, emotional, or simply a dumb joke to alleviate the mood.
We are all types of dads. Stay-at-home dads, work-at-home dads, work-outside-the-home dads, dads who wear pajamas to the bus stop, old dads, new dads, dads to be, deaf dads, dads who are police officers, and so much more. Some of the dads have stopped blogging, but they are still welcome to remain in the group. We are as diverse as could be and the only rule is “Don’t be a dick.”
Last night I dreamt I was at Oren’s funeral. I was one of about 5 people tasked with talking about Oren. I knew it was a dream because somebody else would have been given the honor of talking about him instead of me, somebody who has a blog that is read by more than 4 people, or somebody who writes much more eloquently, but since it was my dream, I guess I chose myself. Anyway, as I was speaking about Oren and what he started, all the other dad bloggers in attendance got up as stood behind me as a show of support and to demonstrate the reach that he has had.
We are all in this together.
Oren Miller leaves behind a family, his wife, two children ages 6 and 4. He also leaves behind a legacy of over 1000 men who care about each other, support each other, both personally and professionally. While there is heartache with his passing, particularly for his family, the impact he has had will live on.