Your Biggest E-Hugs Needed Now

Yo! Not for me. Are you kidding? Back away from the llama. Adore me from a distance.

The hugs are needed for my dear friend Clare at Eat Stuff in Sydney, Australia. Clare, an extraordinary cook with a marvelous zest for food and life that shows in every word she types. Clare, who is friendly to absolutely everyone and everything, and who always has a kind and encouraging word to spare. Clare, who is responsible for the success of the wildly popular Weekend Cat Blogging--and who talked me into heading to the auction to bid on what are now my new llamas when I had decided not to go. (Yes, apparently she has been crazy about llamas ever since she saw one on "Sesame Street" when she was a kid, and dreams of owning one herself someday.) Clare--one of the most wonderful people I have never met.

Maybe you remember the all-night Transcontinental Bakeathon she and I cooked up. You don't have to be bopping around the food blog world for long to run into her. You start to leave a comment on some obscure food blog you're thrilled to have just discovered, and who has left her cheerful mark there moments earlier? Clare, of course. Amy and I used to jokingly say, "Clare, she's everywhere!" So when she disappears for a day or two, things out there just feel very wrong. Like now.

If you haven't heard already, in a horrible twist of fate and circumstance, last week Clare was severely wounded by Kiri, the cat she loves with all her heart, while trying to protect him from an unleashed dog that was attacking the two of them. She is still in the hospital. Click here if you would like to read an update from her sweetheart, Casey.

The magic of the internet makes us feel so close to each other. With just a few clicks, we can visit someone on the other side of the world. It is so easy to forget how very far away we actually are from one another--and how helpless this can sometimes make us feel.

I know something we can do, though. It is possible to send anybody, anywhere hugs and healing thoughts just by thinking about them. This really does work. And the more people that do it, the bigger the impact. So if you could just take a minute right now to close your eyes and send Clare some help, we just might be able to get her back to us a little sooner. Thank you.