Sunday, November 27, 2011

Deck the Halls

Deck the halls with boughs of holly...
"Black Friday Violence Worse Than Ever As American Consumers Fight Over Deals Like Crazed Animals"  (Hawaii News Daily)

Fa la la la la, la la la la. 
Black Friday violence included robberies, shootings, tramplings and pepper spray.

Tis the season to be jolly...
"One woman actually pulled out pepper spray and sprayed it at other customers that were gathered around her."

Fa la la la la, la la la la.
"Pepper spray was used at a Wal-Mart on the other side of the country as well.  Over in Kinston, North Carolina an off-duty police officer used pepper spray as an unruly shopper was being subdued."  

Follow me in merry measure...
A woman was nearly trampled to death over a memory card.

Fa la la la la, la la la la!

A beautiful picture of Christmas, isn't it?

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

The Season for Giving Thanks

The Pilgrims and the Indians sitting down at a table in the woods having the inaugural Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate the first harvest while a fantastic story does not resonate with me in my "real" everyday life. I have plenty to give thanks for - more than I will ever realize - but my experience tonight really brought it home for me.

This evening I was lucky enough to participate in a wish granting training for Wishes Can Happen. During this training session, we learned how to work through the process of granting a wish for a terminally ill child - start to finish. While it was highly administrative, there were undertones of details that are required to be gathered that made an unspoken impact.

Gathering information such as: whether or not the child requires oxygen in-flight or upon arrival; securing a number of medical releases provided by the child's physician; discussing disease types and prognosis really makes one think about the severity of stress and anguish that these families face. Knowing that some children may recover, but most will not gives you a greater understanding of how important these wishes are. This could quite possibly be the last enjoyable experience and memory that the family has. One that otherwise could not be possible.

I'm thankful for the health of my children. I am thankful for the privilege to serve on the board of Wishes Can Happen. I'm thankful for my fellow-board members who see the importance of providing such a service to these families and who are willing to give up their time in order to ensure these children and their families are given the opportunity to make new memories in the midst of sadness. I am thankful for all I have. For the ability to give what I can. For the way I am inspired by these kids and how they have impacted my view on life.

Jade - cancer fighter, 5 years old

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Life Happens

My blogging has once again taken a nose-dive in the face of multi-tasking and life induced ADD. If there were more hours in the day. If I weren't running around so much. If the kids social lives weren't more social than my own. If I didn't over-commit. If I didn't succumb to the fall line up of TV. If I didn't discover pinterest. If I didn't love Zumba. ...I would certainly be blogging more about all of the fun and not-so-fun events of late.

I guess for now, I'll just live life, and catch you up on it later.