Go Fund Us!

At my husband's behest, I set up a GoFundMe campaign last night.

Hall Home Help

I titled it "Hall Home Help" because we need to do some things around our house. And I enjoy alliteration.

We're going down this path because we tried applying for home equity loans/lines of credit but were summarily denied by three different banks.

I Can Handle It

There's this thing I've noticed that people are wont to do when interacting with people like Mark and I as someone who is ill and his wife/caregiver.

They often water down their problems for us. People say things like:

• It's nothing like what you deal with.
• It's so small compared to your struggles.
• I don't want to add to your stress.

OK so, yeah, we have struggles, and yeah, along with chronic illness comes chronic stress. I'm not going to deny that.

But we both still want to be in real, give and take relationships with our friends and family. We want others to share their lives with us.

World Kindness Day

Did you know today is World Kindness Day?

It was started by the World Kindness Movement back in 1998.

Waaaayyy back when I was a newbie blogger, I kinda, sorta inadvertently wrote a series of little posts of suggestions for performing random acts of kindness, inspired by the....wait for it....Random Acts of Kindness Foundation.

You see, I never have been, and probably never will be, someone who is able to be super philanthropic, much to the chagrin of my bleeding heart.

The View From Here: What We Think We Know

Welcome to the last View From Here guest post!

Today I bring you Shell of Things I Can't Say, which was one of the very first other blogs I discovered when I finally noticed that blogging was such a big thing. Since then, Shell has been a bit of a bloggy mentor to me, just by doing what she does, by her example.

In fact, she's such a cool blogger that, with help from a few other bloggers, Shell recently launched The Soccer Moms, dedicated to parents of active kids. Really great idea for a blog!

I think Shell's post for us is a perfect note to end The View From Here on.

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What We Think We Know

It’s so easy to make assumptions based on what we see of someone. The way they look, dress, the car they drive, the house they live in, their kids, what we see them doing.

We think we know.

The Time I Accidentally Pissed Off a Crazy Person at the Playground

The year I started blogging was the same year we bought our house: 2010. Spring, to be more specific. The weather was improving and the kids were playing outside a lot, especially when we were here painting before moving in.

As one of these pre-move-in days was winding down, I walked over to the neighborhood playground to get the kids.

AJ was only 4 years old (Camryn was 9 1/2) and not yet adept at sliding down the pole, so he asked for my help. Other little kids noticed a mom was helping with the pole and a line formed. So there I was, helping kid after kid slide down the pole....

Then there was this one little girl. And then her mother.

I wrote about this incident when my blog was a baby. It had a whopping 10 views, so I thought I'd refresh and re-share because it is something that still sort of bothers me, and I think about sometimes.

The View From Here: I am String Cheese

 This week is, honestly, one of those weeks when I am very happy I have a guest blogger

to fall back on for some quality content! If you have liked the Dancing in the Rain Facebook page,

you may have seen my posts all about my husband's double surgery on Tuesday.

Between that, my kids and so many logistical things to take care of,

I have not had any time or energy to write.

 So, today's View is from The Sarcasm Goddess of For the Love of Writing.

Her online persona is usually one of humor. She can be very funny indeed.

But today you will see her serious side. Her vulnerable yet brave side.

She asked me if I thought it was too depressing. It's so not depressing.

I am honored that she feels safe enough to share this side of herself here.

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I am String Cheese

I am string cheese. With each pull, a layer of me is peeled away. I have left strings in the bed and in the shower. I have left strings in the closet, my hands trembling as they skim the hangers. Which clothes will conceal the strings of me that remain, the ones that, in time, will be pulled away until there is nothing left of me?

The View From Here: Listening to That Inner Voice

I don't want to say much as intro for this week's View, except that I asked this person to write for me because I very much wanted to hear from a man.

This is Scotty Schrier, and he is awesome. That is all you need to know.

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I Listen to the Voices in My Head...and I'm a Better Person for It!

Did You Know? Paying it Forward

Do you know how incredible "paying it forward" is?

Everyone knows what this is, right? It's the concept that when someone does something nice for you, you "pay it forward" by doing something nice for someone else.

It looks like this:

Paying it forward can mean many different things. It can be big or small, grand or subtle. We don't all have to be Oprah or Bill Gates to do good.

Something as simple as paying the toll for the person in the car behind you can start a chain reaction of kind acts. The person you paid for may go on later in the day to pay for someone else's mocha. The person who got the free mocha may let the person behind them in line at the grocery store who has only 1 item go ahead of them and their full cart. The person who got to cut in line may decide to help their elderly neighbor pull their garbage can to the curb. And so on and so forth.

What has inspired me to write about paying it forward is what I saw transpire during my husband's recent health crisis. He and I needed help, both logistically and emotionally, and sometimes at very inopportune times. My closest friends were there for me at the first phone call. Their husbands helped them to help me. When their husbands couldn't, other friends stepped up to support my close friends as they supported me.

When Mark's parents decided to come, they needed support from friends and neighbors at home, to drive them to the airport, take care of their pets, get their mail, etc. A good friend of my dad's stopped by and pushed to find out how he was doing because my dad has had a heart attack and his friend was worried about the stress.

Mark is the kind of guy who can make friends with anyone, and he wants everyone to be happy. He has wormed his way into the hearts of his co-workers who decided to pitch in to provide our family with needed food and household items. I suspect they needed support from their loved ones in order to take the time, energy and money to do this.

While spending time at the hospital, I watched as friends and family members were always polite and courteous enough to ask others if they wanted anything when they made a trip to the cafeteria. I cannot count how many times I was asked, "Do you need anything?".

Everyone around me has been paying it forward....and back and forth. It is an amazing and inspiring thing to see! I can only hope that I will be able to pay it forward somehow too. I have a little, by sharing the homemade food and watching a friend's kids. But that's not nearly enough.

Did you know that paying it forward with kindness can make someone's day, and make YOU feel good too? And, that it can have a ripple effect that stretches far beyond just you?

G'head, write up a Did You Know? post, grab the button and link it up with me and motherhood: TRUTH today through Friday!

TGIF: The Freaking Middle of March Edition

The first two weeks of this month have been a blur for me. For real. I don't even know how today is the 16th. Time was already going by fast enough, and I just lost half a month!

On the other hand, today being March 16 means my birthday is in exactly 1 month. I don't love it as much as I used to (because of the whole getting older part), but I still enjoy it.

Anyway....today is...

I am happy to report that Mark has been home for a few days now and things are going well. Most out-of-town family has gone home, but his dad and step-mom are still here right now. One of his best friends is coming from Wyoming for a visit this weekend. We are in the oh-so-fun phase of readjusting and reorganizing Mark's health care needs. He is having some minor mobility issues because his legs are weak. He's tripped twice on two different sets of just two steps. Some hand rails are in order. The home health nurse is very nice and seems on-the-ball, and is going to help us with services such as counseling for the kids.

Why do I keep using three word phrases?

I am so humbled by all the sweet and lovely things people keep saying about and to me. So many compliments, so much encouragement. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all that has transpired over the past two weeks. While I'm doing so, people are giving me such latitude, patience and understanding.

There really are wonderfully, kind-hearted and selfless people in the world. I've seen it. I only hope I can be the same way when someone else needs it.

So! I have been enjoying keeping lists each month of my favorite posts by other bloggers. I have a list for February and had intended to publish it at the beginning of this month to link up with Best of the Blogosphere at Cookie's Chronicles. For obvious reasons, that didn't happen, so I just want to share the list with you now, so it doesn't go to waste.

• It's So Lonely by The Sarcasm Goddess
• What Happens to Your Heart When Its Heart is Broken? at Band Back Together
• Love Is by Greta
• It's My Anniversary and Love is in the Air by Sue
• Love, the Other Four Letter Word by Paul
• Mormons Exposed by Tracy
• Dear Anxiety by Danielle
• To Clean or Not to Clean by Les
• Monday's Muse: The Lovely Dr. G by Nicole
• A Slacker Mommy and Proud by Jennifer (not me) at Scary Mommy
• You Googled What? Anal Probe Edition by The Sarcasm Goddess

It's a Sarcasm Goddess sandwich!

I hope you might happily click on a few of those posts and read 'em. They either made me laugh, cry, nod my head or go Hmmm....

I'm a little giddy about something.

Should I tell you?

If I say it out loud here on my blog I have to mean it and do it, hu?

OK. I got the idea the other night that I want Mark and I to renew our wedding vows!

Soon. Like, in May.

May 20, 1994 is the the anniversary of our first kiss and the beginning of our relationship.

Considering what I just said, the following may be a little inappropriate....

Ladies?

Write some HAPPY, grab the button, link up!

(Linky open all weekend.)

Random Act of Kindness: Become an Organ Donor

Become an Organ Donor

This is something that is near and dear to my heart.  It should be near and dear to all of our hearts.

I believe we all have a moral obligation to be organ and tissue donors.

And not only because my husband has had a kidney/pancreas transplant and needs another one.  No, it's because 18 people will die each day waiting for an organ.

It does not matter what your religious beliefs are.  All major religions support the principles of donation and transplantation.

It is just your physical body anyway.  You don't need it anymore once you've passed on.  Really.  And even when you're still alive, there are parts of your body that you have multiples of, such as kidneys, or that can regnerate, such as the liver, bone marrow and blood.

Seriously.  Don't be a hoarder!

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing, or UNOS, the current transplant trends are:

• Waiting list candidates as of today: 111,724
• Active waiting list candidates:  72,346
• Transplants January - April 2011: 9,055
• Donors January - April 2011: 4,490

See those last 2 numbers?  Transplants vs. Donors?  The number of transplants is higher than the number of donors.  That's becasue one body can provide as many as 50 opportunities for transplantation. Fifty! Organs, skin, stem cells, eyes, perhaps even limbs. It's truly amazing!

Now here's the tricky part.  If you're all, "Yes!  I absolutely want to be an organ and tissue donor!", that's awesome.  But you have to SHARE YOUR DECISION with your loved ones.

Share your life.  Share your decision.  If your loved ones aren't aware that donation is part of your final wishes, they might say no when the doctors ask.  You can fill out an online donor registration form or tell the DMV you are a donor all you want, but if your next of kin say no, that's it.

The most important thing to do is to sign up  as an organ and tissue donor in your state's donor registry.  Then....

To cover all bases, it's also helpful to:
• Designate your decision on your driver's license
• Tell your family about your donation decision
• Tell your physician, faith leader, and friends
• Include donation in your advance directives,
  will, and living will

There is also an International Association for Organ Donation, as well as the Donate Life website.

I hope that each and every one of my readers will commit to being an organ and tissue donor....and then some!

Random Acts of Kindness a la Oprah

Oprah Winfrey on Facebook posted this link titled "35 Little Acts of Kindness".  Since I have been doing a series about kindness I thought it only fitting that I share.

Some of my favorites from the list include:

• Give a homeless person your doggie bag.
• Help a mother carry her baby stroller up the subway stairs, or hold a door open for her.
• When you're on a crowded train or bus, offer your seat to an elderly, disabled or pregnant person.
• Listen with all your senses.
• Simply say "I'm sorry" when you're wrong.
• Pass along a great book you've just finished reading.

What do you consider kind?