Lately I’ve been over-indulging (in a good way) in positive and inspirational activities. I’m immersing myself into The Skinny Dip Society (more on that in a later post), attending Bloggy Boot Camps, reading Live Happy magazine and focusing on all the good in my life. I’m irritatingly happy and optimistic these days. Ergo, time for a Things To Be Excited About post! Without further ado, here they are: Continue reading Things to be Excited About – October 2014
Years ago I started writing a memoir about our autism journey. I’ve struggled in the process, not sure if I had the right to speak for the whole family, given so many details were intensely personal. There are however a few chapters that I felt were really good – but didn’t know if they’d ever be read. “The Little Bus” was one of those chapters. When my friend Kristi, from Finding Ninee, asked me to contribute to her Our Land Series, I knew I had the piece. I’m going to use Kristi’s words to describe Our Land:
“One day, I wrote a post called The Land of Empathy and Wonder, wondering how my little boy sees the world. In marveling at the beauty in which he looks at life, I declared that I want to live in Our Land – a place where empathy and wonder rule. Where quirks and differences are celebrated and everybody is appreciated for his own uniqueness.
This land exists. It exists right now in some of you, if only ideally. We, my friends, have the power to transform our worlds, our ideal places, and our homes into The Land of Empathy and Wonder.”
So please join me over at Finding Ninee, to read The Little Bus.
I’m over at the Family Legacy Center today, talking about how I’ve made the extra effort to have family dinners multiple times a week – as a part of our family’s legacy.
I watched a lot of television when I was growing up, especially the family shows like, The Brady Bunch, Leave It to Beaver and Eight Is Enough. My favorite scenes took place at the dinner table. Whether it was a family feud or a cheerful gathering, I was enthralled. I romanticized the “iconic family dinner,” probably because my family rarely sat down and ate together. My dad worked nights and my mom dined with him when he got home, which was always after my brother and I had gone to bed. For some reason, at our house the family dinner was never a priority. This is probably why I’d get so excited whenever I was invited to dinner at friends’ homes.
Before I had children, I vowed that when I did, I’d cook every night and we’d eat together as a family. So I was very surprised when I realized that this didn’t often occur in our house. And believe me, I have tons of excuses – some good, some lame. Suffice it to say, my family was so not The Brady Bunch.
Please join me over at the Family Legacy Center to continue reading this post. See you there!
This past weekend, my
husband and I attended the Purple Pansies Gala that’s held annually at one of our favorite local restaurants, Casa Nuova. The Purple Pansies organization was founded by our friend, Maria Fundora, to raise money and awareness for pancreatic cancer, a disease that unfortunately took her mother. As some of you may know, pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease. It has a high mortality rate, primarily because it’s usually diagnosed very late – often when the cancer is in stage four. There are, however, exciting new advances in the field of pancreatic cancer research, giving patients new hope. Maria raises money with the Purple Pansies Gala for Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGEN), a research institute that’s developing a diagnostic tool that will hopefully become as routine as a mammogram, so that doctors will be able to diagnose pancreatic cancer earlier. The institute has also played a role in using genetic markers to identify the best treatment options for patients. I encourage you to visit TGen’s site, to learn more. Also visit the Purple Pansies website to read about Maria, who’s a passionate and inspiration advocate for individuals, and their families, who’ve been afflicted with this disease. In just five years, her quest to memorialize her mother has evolved into an event that this year alone raised close to $150,000! She’s quite a force, let me tell you.
Maria & her family. Continue reading A Night Out at the Purple Pansies Gala
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