Stop Everything And Come Cry Happy Tears With Me

I haven't mentioned FOE here in a while, but it's a bright spot of joy in my Facebook feed - often the ONLY bright spot for many of us members - and even though I'm just a lurker there, it makes me feel part of this community in a way no comment section ever could.

Case in point: Anni Welborne and her family are dear friends that John and I've never met. We've exchanged actual snail mail (gasp!) and her daughter Pinkie is a regular here in the comment section. In fact, John designed our My Little Pony 'Bot pin specifically for Pinkie; she got the very first pins long before we offered them for sale.

So yesterday when Anni shared this about her other daughter, Stacy, my heart soared. It's exactly the kind of thing I want to shine a spotlight on here on Epbot: the kind of joy and triumph and inspiration that makes me think maybe everything's gonna be OK in the world, you know?

Plus it involves The Greatest Showman, and you know how I feel about that. :D

Anni's given me permission to share this publicly, so here, come cry and sing and renew your faith in humanity with me:

 Anni's not the only one a bit soggy after that update. Oh my heart!

This morning Anni posted a follow-up, this time with video. I won't embed the video (YouTube will just yank it for copyright) but here's her update:

A little more about Stacy: In 2016 she won the title of Indiana Miss Amazing Pre-teen 2016, and she's recently been named a Miss Amazing Ambassador. I hadn't heard of that organization before, but it looks like they live up to their name in every way. Wow.

 Stacy is currently trying to raise $600 so she can sponsor 5 more girls to enter the pageant. If you want to help - or just learn more about how cool Miss Amazing is - check out her fundraising page.

So is your heart singing yet? C'mon, let's all join Stacy for the next round: