Guess which week kicked me in the hiney and then turned around, laughed and offered me a poopy sandwich?
Yeah, this last one.
You might have noticed it in my facebook posts on Tuesday; my requests for prayers, thoughts, love, good juju…..
And the same request on Wednesday.
Friday.
Sunday.
You can unfriend me, really. Last week was a big dose of reality pie.
Without the Cool Whip.
That was my second food analogy. I might need a snack.
On Thursday, work friends and I piled into a car a drove to lunch. I monopolized the conversation with the following:
– My lovely friend with Stage 4 breast cancer in the ICU fighting with cancer for every breath
– My lovely friend, Maria with her son in the ICU
– New friends who have moved to Colorado because they have lost two mito children in the last 6 months. Their third child, also with mito needs a medical marijuana called “Charlotte’s Web” to control her seizures. They lived in Georgia and are moving here to get the medication their daughter needs that is illegal in their home state.
This is what I post on Facebook!
Because it is my life.
We got out of the car and a friend declared she was not riding with us on the way home.
Because these stories are sad. Heck- these stories are frickin’ devastating. And I tell them like I’m ordering a sandwich.
Huh, another food reference.
And I thought. ‘Am I that sad? Is my life that sad? Am I immune to what makes the normal person sad?’ Have I become a crab with a hard shell, beady eyes and a threatening claw?
Perhaps…… I really like crab.
Here is what I realized in the last week….You can have sad circumstances- you can have ass-tastic, my-god-is-this-my-life circumstance but that does not make you a sad person and that does not give you a sad life.
On the contrary.
It’s the point when you know the charade is over, you have nothing to hide, your life is so unperfect you have no choice but to call the tribe together- admit your brokenness, admit that you are so terrified by the unfairness of life, that your only choice is to share it. Ask other people to help with the load, the grief, the sadness.
And the beauty is when they pick up the load and help you carry. And when so many people pick up the load, it is not a load at all, it can fit in your pocket, or maybe a cute handbag.
I do have a cute handbag.
We cannot carry our burdens alone. Life abiet amazing, is too hard to go alone. This week was sad and worrisome and beautiful and hopeful
and human.
Month: November 2014
Another post about Bath Salts
Aren’t there days you wish you could bathe in?
Let the scent soak into your skin?
Someone passes by and says, “Wow, what is that great smell?”
And you would say, “Oh that was Thursday. It was an amazing day. Doesn’t it smell scrumptious?”
And as you were typing or doing everyday things, you would catch a whiff and hold your palm to your nose……inhale…..ahh Thursday. Thursday was a good day.
Today is Thursday. And I am trying to bottle the scent of this great, great day.
My company gave $150,000 dollars to our Children’s Hospital today.
Last time I checked, $150,000 was a lot of money.
Rumor has it, this is one of many gifts
Perhaps today needs to be put into those baths salts I never use…..I would use this one. It feels fabulous….. dare I say giddy?
My parent company doesn’t live here. They live in Dallas. But they are very involved in Dallas Children’s and heard about the money we raised for the Courage Classic. They decided they should be involved in Children’s Colorado too.
I think I work for a mighty fine company. And how great is it to say that in a world of corporate angst???? I work for a mighty fine company.
Here I am with our CEO and his amazing assistant. Both of whom have brought this gift to fruition.
Here are a couple of us pre-check presentation
And touring the new Multi-Disciplinary Clinic- where a majority of money is going.
Wait….let me post the check again
That’s a pretty check. That check is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
So many things have brought this about. Some people say it’s my passion for this place but passion only goes so far. I have been so fortunate to meet so many devoted, giving, generous people along the way.
And today, to be surrounded by the people I love, the doctors of Children’s, those who loved Samantha, the Leaders of my company…it was a good day.
My mama put it best tonight-
What an amazing and humbling chain of events set in motion by one courageous little girl. A truly awe inspiring day at Children’s Hospital
And then she saw two shooting stars and named one Jack and one Samantha…..
Amazed, humbled, extraordinarily grateful. Are there words? No, no words.
I’m going to draw a big hot bath full of Thursday- hoping this love and gratitude soak into my pores. Hoping next week I can inhale the scent in my palm and think….ahh….Thursday.
On another note- you members of this crazy tribe…. NONE OF THIS would be possible without you. My cup runneth. I would like to make a bath salt called Crazy Tribe. I would soak in the fabulousness of you all.
Oh Me. Oh My. Oh Life
I mentioned in my last post that a lot of what we did this summer, we could not have done with Samantha….
Well, we could have organized around Samantha; nurses, Grandparents and the like. But truth be told, some of the things we did this summer, we couldn’t have done with kiddos in tow.
Which is where we are in our life.
And thank goodness for those who help us to embrace this choice.
In July our friends asked us if we would like to hike from Aspen to Crested Butte and back. It’s not a huge hike but it does involve some coordination; mailing of undies and a toothbrush, some work on the quads, And still, at the summit my dogs were barkin’.
Not a bad view, eh?
It was also our ten year anniversary. Happy ten years to us!
I look old.
And puckered.
Hubs looks tired.
But myyyyy goodness. Look at where we are……
The week before, the world lost Robin Williams which really made me sad. I saw ‘Dead Poets Society’ my senior year in High School and it changed me- seriously.
I devoured that movie. I went once with friends and then went again alone, just me and my notebook to copy down all of the quotes I loved.
Here is what I realized….
- It is dark in a movie theater and hard to write down quotes
- If I had paid attention in English class, I would have known where to find these quotes
But no matter, I left with Carpe….carpe diem….to seize the day. I loved it. I wanted to learn Latin, get a blazer with a crest, attend boarding school, move to the East Coast and wear plaid. Most importantly, I wanted to make my life extraordinary.
And so I became an English major and I wrote. I took a creative writing class and told the teacher I couldn’t write anything because nothing had happened to me yet.
Silly girl.
And so this weekend we hiked in this beauty and I thought, as I seem to do quite often, of our fragile place in this world….and ironically, one quote kept repeating in my head.
‘Oh me, oh my, oh life!’
To be in this place, with Hubs and our great friends.
‘Oh me, oh my, oh life!’
Hiking with our healthy bodies- which sounds so simple but we know so many whose bodies don’t do what they need to. I sang praises to my feed-a-village thighs.
‘O me! O Life! Of the the questions of these recurring; of the endless trains of the faithless….of cities filled with the foolish; what good amid these, O me, O life?”
Answer. That you are here- that life exists….that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse.
We hiked to Crested Butte, slept, ate a great meal, basked in good company, a beautiful place and hiked back to Aspen. It was a great weekend. A weekend where you just felt happy to be here.
And honestly? Grateful that we can be happy….
Oh Me, Oh My, Oh Life.
I am off to find my blazer with a crest.
Oh and go vote! Contribute your verse.
Samsmom 