For A Cause...

I suppose it would be easy for me to start telling my latest story and not even acknowledge that I haven't posted a blog in over two months ~ but then I just wouldn't be me; now would I ?  I'm not going to give you a lengthy list of excuses for my absence; just one BIG one; I've been in a SLUMP!  Now a slump is totally different from having writer's block; because I certainly do have stories to tell; and rest assured that in good time THEY WILL BE TOLD -  but ever since we returned from Puerto Vallarta (in early June,) I've had several unexpected situations that have caused me an extraordinary amount of stress and I just haven't had the wherewithal or the confidence to write (even though I REALLY wanted to.)  My anxiety had been getting the better of me; and it kept me from doing what I LOVE to do and THAT made things even worse.  Even though I kept trying to convince myself that I was ready to write; I just couldn't bring myself to do it.  Even though I was receiving requests from friends and readers asking me to post a blog; I just couldn't try; (though I hope that they know how grateful I was / am,  for their encouragement and how flattered I was / am by their interest.)  I know that  I'm stronger than all of the forces that seemed to be at work against me but actually writing just seemed impossible; UNTIL I witnessed something that moved me so much, that I KNEW it was time for me to get back to work.

On Monday I took my kids to swim team practice and while we were getting ready to leave; one of the coaches handed a bag of plastic bottle caps to a girl that we didn't know.  Someone asked why she was collecting the caps and she explained that a friend of hers had a friend who had Leukemia and that for every 700 caps that were collected, she would get a free treatment.  Well, my kids heard this and as soon as we got into our minivan, they immediately started searching for plastic bottle caps.  Then, as soon as we arrived home, they checked our garage, and our recycling baskets, and even though it was 109 degrees in the shade, they went out to our back yard and tried to dig up some more caps. After they'd found a few, they came inside and started searching our pantry.  Lyndzi said "Hey Mom, when will you ever use apple vinegar?"  And I explained what I use it for; to which she replied "Maybe when you're done, we can use that cap."  And then she continued searching further, suggesting "What about the mayonnaise and the peanut butter."  Kelsie then chimed in with "Maybe when I'm done taking my medicine, we could use that cap."  To which a very enthusiastic Lyndzi said "Do you take it two times a day?"  And Kelsie answered excitedly, "Yes, morning and night."  They then tried to think of other places that they might find caps and they remembered that Luis had a growing collection of water bottles in our Toyota; so they called him at work to make sure that he hadn't thrown the bottles away.  As luck would have it; he said that he had just cleaned the car out the day before and so we explained that we needed him to bring home the bottle caps from now on and get others to give them to him as well.

I was SO touched by my kids call to action, that I knew my slump was over and that THIS was the story that I was ready to write.  I found their desire to help and their compassion absolutely inspirational, and I was overcome by their good will and humanity.  Just because it's who they are, my kids were interested in (say it with me) THE GREATER GOOD; and that's not an expression that I have even used with them thus far.  And so, in the interest of THE GREATER GOOD, I thought that others might want to help too and since I wanted to write this post armed with all of the information that you would need to get involved; I promptly started researching bottle caps for cancer; (YES, sometimes I actually research something before I write about it...) and I found out that it is a total hoax.  Snopes reported it, as did several other articles; all with quotes from the American Cancer Society, stating "HOAX,"  "Urban myth" and absolutely UNTRUE.

Can you even imagine how difficult it was for me to explain to my kids that the 73 bottle caps that they'd collected since Monday, were not really going to be able to help anyone.  To say they were dejected would be an understatement, because they wanted so badly to help.  But you know what... THEY DID!  Their deed helped remind me of what truly EXCEPTIONAL, AMAZING people they are and I realized that in order to perpetuate this path, I shouldn't waste a minute worrying about trivial things, or stress about situations that I can't control; because when I do, my disposition prevents me from giving the best of myself TO THEM and NOTHING is more important than spending time with my children.  I recognized that all of the time that I had spent worrying and stressing was time that I could have spent focusing on the positive, which is that I am raising kind, considerate, loving individuals. People who are already going out into the world and trying to make a difference and NOTHING  deserves my concern and attention more than that!!

So now my slump IS officially over (because I say it is. ) I'm BACK and I'm ready to write AND I've got something planned that you're NEVER going to believe; so you're just going to have to stay tuned to find out.

Till next time...

Queen of EVERYTHING