Did you know that a few weeks from now will mark the 50th anniversary of the day JFK was shot? Did you know that I have a mild obsession with the JFK assassination? Did you know that I watch/record pretty much every documentary regarding the JFK assassination?
Did you also know that in five days my baby will turn five?
Did you know there are only 6 and a half weeks until Christmas?
Random factoids for tonight.
And what do you all think of the new digs around here, hey? I got a little more work to get it fully loaded with the right info, and plugging posts into the right categories and figuring out how to make them more easily accessible and a few other similar issues. But – here it is.
Today was a super fun day, going down to the city, surprising the babies with a trip to the American Girl doll store thanks to some generous Kendall Krew members, just spending time together as a family. It was awesome to just go and enjoy that Kendall didn’t need nonstop interventions (meds/monitors/drainage bags/etc) – she had such a great day! We all did. I will do a better blog update with pictures about the trip tomorrow.
Did you know there are a lot of panhandlers on the Mag Mile in Chicago? there are. Maybe they are all drug addicts, maybe they are all crazy, maybe they are all getting rich off the sympathy of tourists – i don’t know. What I do know is that today, for some reason, I found it so hard to pass them by. I almost always find it hard to pass them by – but even more so as we walked around as a family, feeling so blessed to be together, to have this opportunity….
I only had spare change in my pocket. i gave a few quarters to Kealey to put in a man’s bucket who was sitting in a wheelchair with a sign that said he had nerve damage. I put a few more in a cup for a mom who just wanted to pay rent for her and her two children. And the last handful went to a man who was standing on a perch shouting, “Can Anyone Help?? Can Anyone Help???” – his voice resonated with desperation. Perhaps it was the desperation of the drugged, the mentally unstable. All I know is that I felt compelled to look him in the eye – to tell him that I didn’t have much but that I wanted to help. I just wanted to help…I was struck by the thoughts of watching my own child go through withdrawal from the narcotics that had been coursing through her very sick body for weeks. It was heartbreaking and horrible and whatever the circumstances – I cannot imagine that pain.
I’m not sure where I was going with this. Only that I wanted to show my girls that the panhandlers are people too. That it’s ok to look in their eyes, that it’s always ok to give what you have to help others, no matter how small it might seem. That everyone deserves to know they are loved, in whatever small way we may be able to show it.
Never be afraid to do something. Especially if its the right thing to do.
that’s all i have to say about that.
T.