Potts

I had heard last week that one of my favorite people(Parenthia Jones) in the world had a serious health challenge and today I found out that she is battling cancer.   I am not sure what the nature of her cancer is or the prognosis.

Potts as she is affectionately called by all of us who know her is an icon in the Denver running community.  She is a tireless volunteer. She carried the olympic torch when it passed through here in 2004 on the way to Utah.  Potts carried the torch for a mile just like John Elway.  Almost everyone in Colorado knows who John Elway is and I believe that Potts in her own way is as powerful, maybe more so than John Elway is.

One month after 9/11, Potts through together a 5K run so we could have something to hold onto as a community, as a nation.

A young couple was murdered in Aurora several years ago and Potts put together a wonderful race to honor their memories and begin the healing process for the mother's who lost their children.   Before the start of the race they released beautiful white doves.  It was a beautiful moment.

Potts puts on 4 or 5 small races through her running club, Potts Trotters every year.  She has a loyal following of runners.  The post race award ceremony can take longer than the race did to run with all of the age group awards that she gives out along with all of the raffle prizes.

It is not unusual at all to have age group winners in the 70-74, 75-79 and 80+ years at her events.

Potts was the race director of the Colorado Youth at Risk Possibility 5K last year that Sue put on.  Without Potts helping us, the race doesn't take place.

Potts has a huge heart and is loved dearly by all of us who are lucky enough to know her.

 You can read more about her by clicking here. 

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Leap

Tomorrow is leap day.

A dear friend of mine that I have yet to meet posted this on Facebook some time ago.  I saved it in my favorite quotations and in honor of leap day thought it would be good thought to share.

"That big decision you're putting off? This is your permission to just do it.  Light, Love, Belief in you. Now, go".!~Shayna Lister Hefner

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Memoirs

Today's writing prompt:  Write the first paragraph of your memoir locating your own story within a larger context.

It was a normal Colorado day in April, overcast with a hint of rain.  Worldwide and at the company I worked at the Information Technology industry was focused on Y2K preparation, file expansions, date windowing, time dimensional testing, code remediation.   Cobol(Common Oriented Business Language) programmers were in high demand.  Many had come out of retirement to cash in on the opportunity and work as highly paid consultants.  Head hunters called weekly, what would it take for you to take another position?   Bonuses were now expected, not the exception.

I was training for my first marathon which was less than five weeks away.   Things were going well at work.  I had time to go for a run during my lunch hour.   I changed into my running clothes and set out to do a six mile run.   I left at 11:15.   I came back to a different world.   It was April 20, 1999.

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Ross Kinney, prominent author and Wall Street Journal Columnist, died last night

Ross Kinney, prominent author and Wall Street Journal Columnist, died last night from injuries sustained at the 150^th running of the Boston Marathon during an epic sprint of the last 385 yards that had the spectators cheering wildly for Kinney and an unidentified runner dressed as a dominatrix, wearing a pink wig.  The race came down to the final foot strike which ended in epic failure for Kinney as he slipped on a banana with mysterious writings and drawings of animals with tusks.

Kinney was born and raised in Denver, Colorado.  He began his career working as a carpenter with his father.  In 1986, Kinney changed careers which he termed as his accidental career that lasted almost 25 years in the Information Technology field.

During that time, Kinney began running marathons for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  He developed a passion for running and even more so being a part of finding a cure for blood cancers. 

When asked to describe what made her husband special, Sue responded “for me, he had a gift of attracting people to his life that would inspire him.”   “Kelly inspired Ross to get involved in something big and later Cassie inspired Ross to start writing again.”

Most of all he loved his family, especially his children, Laura and Adam. 

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Writing my obituary

The writing prompt for yesterday was to write my obituary. 


I tried to do this last year and couldn't do it.  It was too confronting.  What would my wife or my children say when asked to say about me at the end of my life?


Almost a year later, here was the challenge again with a twist. 


Write your own obituary. Make it 215 words, no fewer and no more. 215 words exactly.


My obituary is part farce, part what is so and part a longing for a story that I have yet to write. 


Look for my obituary tomorrow. 

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Kelly and Abby

One of Kelly's sister's(Molly) posted this picture of Kelly with her dog Abby on Facebook tonight. 

It is a wonderful picture of Kelly.  It made me happy and sad at the same time. 

I love her smile and she was always smiling. 

Smile on pretty girl!

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On the right path

I attended a seminar this morning called "The Art of Story Telling."  I almost didn't go.  It snowed last night and I really thought about not going.

I went and squeezed in a short workout at 24 HR Fitness before the seminar.  I knew I would have to go in the morning or I most likely wouldn't be able to get my workout in and that would ruin my streak of having worked out at 24 HR Fitness for 60 straight days.

One of the reasons that I decided to go was that I hoped to maybe pick up an idea  or two that would help connect people to Cassandra's  LLS Woman of the Year campaign as we begin to tell this story.

When I arrived at The Journey For Conscious Living center I noticed a familiar face on the cover of a magazine.  

On the front counter there was a small display of BYOU(Be Your Own You) merchandise.   Cassandra is a spokes person for this organization.  BYOU focuses on empowering young women and improving  their self esteem.

I almost didn't go to this seminar, decided at the last minute it would be worth the effort if I could come away with an idea to benefit Cassandra's campaign and here I found Cassandra at the the Journey for Conscious Living.

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Addicted to Dunzie-The rest of the story.

What did I not notice from the 12 step recovery program?

LisaRose:  The 12 Steps of Dunzie Addicts Anonymous

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable
Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Step 5 - Admitted to…oh, look!...there’s that book I wanted to read…so glad to have found it.
Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
Step 7 - Humbly asked…what was the question, again?
Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
Step 9 - Made stories and essays and blog posts about our past errors, our dunzie addictions, and our willingness to do something about it
Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our attention span

Padma:  Step 12 - accept that dunzie is a part of life and move with it, make friends with it and ask it to show up only at certain times so it can have its play with you

Ross: LisaRose, this is exactly what I need! VT community Rocks ;)

LisaRose: ‎Padma, the joke was that a Dunzie addict would get distracted and lose focus before getting to Step 12. :)

Padma:I get it!!!! duh!!!!!!!

Jenn: Way to take the first step Ross!!

Ross: An intervention may be necessary. I didn't notice that only 11 steps had been provided. Boom, Dunzied again!

Kiki: Love "Boom! Dunzied again!"

LisaRose:  That's a hoot, Ross!

Totally missed that LisaRose had not included the 12th step of the recovery program.  Too distracted to notice.   

Irony!

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Addicted to Dunzie

I set my watch this morning when I went to Panera Bread for 30 minutes.  I was determined to only spend 1/2 an  hour and ended up being there for over two hours.

I posted the following comment on my writing classes group page:

My name is Ross and I am addicted to Dunzie!

This generated the following conversation thread: 

Patti:  LOL! Admitting it is the first step. Welcome, Ross. :-)

Ross: Surely there must be a 12 step recovery program(Dunzie Anonymous) to follow ;)

LisaRose:  The 12 Steps of Dunzie Addicts Anonymous

Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable
Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity
Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God
Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
Step 5 - Admitted to…oh, look!...there’s that book I wanted to read…so glad to have found it.
Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character
Step 7 - Humbly asked…what was the question, again?
Step 8 - Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all
Step 9 - Made stories and essays and blog posts about our past errors, our dunzie addictions, and our willingness to do something about it
Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it
Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our attention span

Ross: LisaRose, this is exactly what I need! VT community Rocks ;)

What did I not notice?  

I will post the rest of the story tomorrow. 

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Say Yes!

This weeks writing class is about igniting our passion.

I love this reading from Andrea Gibson.  Watch her come alive.  Very powerful.

So here is to saying YES to life.

Saying yes to life like Kelly did.  Choosing the life you have.

Saying yes to making a difference to somebody, somewhere in the world as Cassie is doing in her life every day.

"never go a second hushing the percussion of your heart
play loud."~Andrea Gibson

How are you saying yes to your life?  What will you do to play loud?

Say Yes by Andrea Gibson

when two violins are placed in a room
if a chord on one violin is struck
the other violin will sound the note
if this is your definition of hope
this is for you
the ones who know how powerful we are
who know we can sound the music in the people around us
simply by playing our own strings
for the ones who sing life into broken wings
open their chests and offer their breath
as wind on a still day when nothing seems to be moving
spare those intent on proving god is dead
for you when your fingers are red
from clutching your heart
so it will beat faster
for the time you mastered the art of giving yourself for the sake of someone else
for the ones who have felt what it is to crush the lies
and lift truth so high the steeples bow to the sky
this is for you
this is also for the people who wake early to watch flowers bloom
who notice the moon at noon on a day when the world
has slapped them in the face with its lack of light
for the mothers who feed their children first
and thirst for nothing when they’re full

this is for women
and for the men who taught me only women bleed with the moon
but there are men who cry when women bleed
men who bleed from women’s wounds
and this is for that moon
on the nights she seems hung by a noose
for the people who cut her loose
and for the people still waiting for the rope to burn
about to learn they have scissors in their hands

this is for the man who showed me
the hardest thing about having nothing
is having nothing to give
who said the only reason to live is to give ourselves away
so this is for the day we’ll quit or jobs and work for something real
we’ll feel for sunshine in the shadows
look for sunrays in the shade
this is for the people who rattle the cage that slave wage built
and for the ones who didn’t know the filth until tonight
but right now are beginning songs that sound something like
people turning their porch lights on and calling the homeless back home

this is for all the shit we own
and for the day we’ll learn how much we have
when we learn to give that shit away
this is for doubt becoming faith
for falling from grace and climbing back up
for trading our silver platters for something that matters
like the gold that shines from our hands when we hold each other

this is for the grandmother who walked a thousand miles on broken glass
to find that single patch of grass to plant a family tree
where the fruit would grow to laugh
for the ones who know the math of war
has always been subtraction
so they live like an action of addition
for you when you give like every star is wishing on you
and for the people still wishing on stars
this is for you too

this is for the times you went through hell so someone else wouldn’t have to
for the time you taught a 14 year old girl she was powerful
this is for the time you taught a 14 year old boy he was beautiful
for the radical anarchist asking a republican to dance
cause what’s the chance of everyone moving from right to left
if the only moves they see are NBC and CBS
this is for the no becoming yes
for scars becoming breath
for saying i love you to people who will never say it to us
for scraping away the rust and remembering how to shine
for the dime you gave away when you didn’t have a penny
for the many beautiful things we do
for every song we’ve ever sung
for refusing to believe in miracles
because miracles are the impossible coming true
and everything is possible

this is for the possibility that guides us
and for the possibilities still waiting to sing
and spread their wings inside us
cause tonight saturn is on his knees
proposing with all of his ten thousand rings
that whatever song we’ve been singing we sing even more
the world needs us right now more than it ever has before
pull all your strings
play every chord
if you’re writing letters to the prisoners
start tearing down the bars
if you’re handing our flashlights in the dark
start handing our stars
never go a second hushing the percussion of your heart
play loud
play like you know the clouds have left too many people cold and broken
and you’re their last chance for sun
play like there’s no time for hoping brighter days will come
play like the apocalypse is only 4…3…2
but you have a drum in your chest that could save us
you have a song like a breath that could raise us
like the sunrise into a dark sky that cries to be blue
play like you know we won’t survive if you don’t
but we will if you do
play like saturn is on his knees
proposing with all of his ten thousand rings
that we give every single breath
this is for saying–yes

this is for saying–yes

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My wee rant

The Facebook like button.

I don't care for it.  What I don't like about it is it is a quick way to interact with our friends on Facebook without really making a connection.

I notice that people just click the like button and move on to the next item in the news feed.   It is a hit and run.  Not really connecting.  I am not sure what the ratio is as to how many comments are made in relation to the number of likes.

For me, my intention is to leave a comment when someone posts something that interests me, inspires me.  I may not even hit the like button(gasp).  Sometimes in the context of the post, hitting the like button may not make any sense and it may cry out for connection.

When someone posts something on Facebook that brightened my day, made me think, moved me to tears, inspired me to action than I want that person to know that they matter, they make a difference in my day, in my life.

So in life and on Facebook, take the time to acknowledge the people that matter to you.

Don't just like a status.  Tell why you liked it.   How did it impact you?

Life is short.  Like accordingly.

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Gathering Place

For me, one of my favorite places: City Park-Denver Colorado. I have been running races here spanning 3 decades now and what this represents to me is community. 
My running tribe, connection, belonging, memories.


 My first race ever in the dark, running intervals with my daughter last winter while we trained for the Paris marathon.


 Coming together as a community to heal shortly after 9-11, running as part of the United Airlines team.


I love my running community. Today's run supported an organization called the Gathering Place. The Gathering Place is Denver’s only daytime drop-in center for women and children who are experiencing homelessness and poverty. The start line is my gathering place...

The children for Lake International school raised money to support the vital work of the Gathering Place. 


Week after week, the running community comes together and supports numerous non-profits here in Colorado. 

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Dunzie

As part of the writing class I am taking one of our assignments today was to watch this video about Dunzie. 

Living a life of distractions.  I see this more and more in my life, check my e-mail, Facebook, Twitter.  A constant state of distraction.

Go to a Broncos, Nuggets, Rockies game.  Be constantly entertained during all stoppage of play.  Which animated car will win the race.  The audience cheers for the vehicle of choice and boo's when their animated character doesn't win.  What song do you want to have played at the bottom of the 5th inning?   Broncos Cheerleader's, Nuggets Dancer's.  It never stops.

Can we just sit and talk for 90-120 seconds.  How in the world can we sit with one another during an entire halftime?

It becomes increasingly harder to stay connected with one another as we are distracted by technology, distracted by the constant noise that surrounds us.

I looked at my homework assignment at 8:00 this morning.  I finished the last writing prompt at 9:00 tonight.

13 hours, where did my day go?

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Whitney Houston and Jeffrey Zaslow

I thought B.J Gallagher had a good article about two media stars that died on the same weekend and the attendant fanfare or lack thereof.

They both made a big impact in their lifetime's.  We should honor them both.

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Be Grateful

Today I am grateful for the opportunity to practice playing at 100% in my life, having the opportunity to co-create something in my life that I feel passionate about.

So for now, the question that guides me is this.  Is this choice moving me in the direction of my passion?

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Love with your heart wide open

I think this is a pretty awesome message for not just Valentine's Day but for every day.

What would our lives be like if we lived into this?

I like this description from Brene Brown about wholehearted living.  And as scary as that is, living and loving from any place is not honoring the purpose of our lives.

Love with your heart wide open, risk your significance.  Enjoy the ride!

"Wholehearted living is about engaging in our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating the courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and how much is left undone; I am enough.

It’s going to bed at night thinking, Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging.

Choosing authenticity is an act of resistance.

Choosing to live and love with our WholeHearts is an act of defiance.

You’re going to confuse, piss-off, and terrify lots of people – including yourself.  One minute you'll pray that the transformation ends, and the next minute you’ll pray that it never ends."~Brene Brown 

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Worldwide Running Community

This is too good not to share.

Please watch the slideshow of the worldwide run that honored Sherry Arnold last weekend.

Runners across the United States, Egypt, China, Switzerland to name a few places came together in outpouring of support for Sherry and her family.

WOW!

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Valentine's Day 5K

The Denver run series this year has the cutest race bibs.  I ran in the Valentine's Day 5K today.

My feet were cold.  I don't really ever remember that happening before or maybe I just didn't notice.

I was hoping they would play the Whitney Houston version of the National Anthem(best performance ever) this morning, but they play a tinny sounding instrumental.

Some runners are dressed as Valentine Candy.  Where do they get their outfits?  It is fun to try and catch these tasty morsels.

I have run this so many times before.  The race ends now almost six minutes later than it used to.  It is a mystery to me.

I still love the sound of my feet striking the pavement, the sound of my breath as I move myself towards the mile markers,  making the final turn on the diagonal.

The sprint begins at the 3 mile mark.  It lasts 10 seconds longer than it used to.

And I still love to run, the feeling of my legs burning, my heart pumping. I just get to enjoy it longer now...

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Running for Sherry Arnold

I fastened my race bib to my shirt and ran in honor of Sherry Arnold this morning.

I can't wait to hear the stories and see the pictures that the worldwide running community posts about this. 

I ran just under 4 miles, that has become a long run for me these days.  

As I ran I thought about Sherry Arnold and her family and I have never been so proud as I was this morning that I am a part of an amazing community.  A community of runners. 

Runners Edge of the Rockies had over 150 people that came out to run in the snow and 14 degree weather. That is just one of I am sure many more stories to be told about communities that came together because the unthinkable had happened to one of us. 

Please be sure and check out the post from Shut Up and Run about the outpouring of love and support for Sherry and her family. 

Running for Sherry:  Courage, Strength, Grace. 

Honored. 

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Worldwide Virtual Run for Sherry Arnold

I am participating in a virtual run tomorrow for Sherry Arnold who was abducted one mile  from her home on January 7, 2012 while she was out running.

Please take a moment and watch the video here about the run tomorrow and visit her cousin's blog to read more about the movement.

As someone who loves being a part of the running community, it will be an honor to run for Sherry and take back our roads and hopefully begin a healing process for Sherry's family through a worldwide outpouring of love.

To continue my thoughts this week about love, here is another circumstance that could cause us to doubt, to lessen our resolve.

"When in doubt, love"~Patti Digh

"Love is the answer to everything, baby"~Kim Mailhot

So tomorrow out of love for Sherry Arnold we will shut up and run our hearts out.

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When in doubt, love

Dear Kelly,

Four years have passed since the last time I saw you, four years from the last time I hugged you.

I posted my memories of that day here.  I am so glad that I wrote about our time together that day.  It is a treasured memory like so many others I have about you.  Tucked safely away in my heart.

I think often about not only how you lived the last 37 days of your life, but how you lived your life.

.Many times you had to face your doubts as your cancer returned.  Such a persistent cancer.  I am sure you had to have doubts, how can this happen again?   How can I move forward, how do I live my life?

And I watched you choose love above your doubts.  You chose your life,cherished your time with your family and friends.

Through any doubts, throughout your cancer journey,throughout your life, you chose love.

Wow, wow and WOW!

Did I tell you that I wrote an article about you for a book?  It has been published.  A copy of the book came  last night.  It is a story about us.

I am working with a young woman who is running as a woman of the year candidate for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  I am sure you would love Cassie.  She is a lot like you.  She has a kind and loving heart, she is courageous, she is a Denver Bronco fan.  Cassie shares a birthday with you.  She is fighting for a world without cancer, standing for your life.

I love you Kelly.  I am forever grateful for the gift of your life and for the gentle nudges you still send me to remind me of your love.

There are many things of that I am not sure of in my life.  The one thing I never doubt is who you are to me in the world.

Love.

No doubt!

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Wordless Wednesday

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10 minutes to live: Write accordingly!

I am participating in an on-line writing class.  Every day we get a writing prompt and we are too write for 10 minutes each day.  Write as if our hair is on fire.  We write on a lunch sack with a sharpie.  That is our blank canvas to fill, front and back.  Some are writing on the sides as well, using the margin. 


The prompt for Sunday.   You have 10 minutes to live.  Write on your bag everything you need to say in those 10 minutes.


I must confess, I cheated.  I wrote for more than 10 minutes.  I didn't want to stop.  So little time, so much to say. 



I know that is not how life works.  Most are probably not be able to say, "wait, I need more time, come back for me later."


As I began to run out of time and room on my canvas, I felt really sad.  Not from a sense of regret about the life I have lived, but in that I didn't always tell the people in my life how much I loved them, they mattered to me.  I had left things unsaid. 


I found out in the wee hours this morning that my son's store was robbed last night.  He is okay.  I get to celebrate that and will be able to tell him that I love him.   I get another chance.   


I wrote about my family, my family as I grew up and the one wild and precious life as a family that I have been blessed to have with Sue, Laura and Adam. 


I didn't write from regret.  I wrote about good memories, a life I was grateful for. 


Going to Bronco games with my Dad when you couldn't give your tickets away, they were that bad.  Stomping our feet in the old portable East Stands at Mile High Stadium.  That was true Rocky Mountain Thunder.  


Leaving a Bronco game early when Lou Saban fired Floyd Little during the game, hearing the roar of the crowd knowing something magical had happened.  We had to wait to get to the car to find out what had happened. 


I learned how to work hard from my Dad.  Thank you. 


When Laura was a baby, my Dad would take to her to "Swing, slide" park and push her in the swing for an hour.  If she started to cry when he would try and take her out of the swing, he would continue to push her in the swing. 


Coming home from school when we lived in Castle Rock, I think I was in 3rd grade and my mother had bought a toy robot(Herman the Robot).  This was during the Lost in Space era.  She lovingly made Herman some overalls.  I loved that robot! 


As Laura and Adam grew up, there were swim meets, PTA reflection contests, middle school and high school plays.  My mom was always a source of love,  constancy in Laura and Adam's life.


Memories of sledding in Castle Rock with my sister Jan, taking turns going down the hill next to our elementary school.


Sunday night, coming to your bedroom to  "Gawk".  I have no idea how that started.


Treasured memories of time you spent with Laura and Adam as the worlds coolest Aunt.  


Sue, thank you for the life you gave me, the life before Laura and Adam and the life we shared as a family.   You are my best friend, a constant source of faith and love.   You make my heart leap! It has been a great honor that you chose to share your life with me and I am forever grateful for that gift. 


Pizza hut on Friday nights when we first got married, Chicken A' la Sue, walking up the Crookedest street in the world on our honeymoon, taking the kids to Disney World,  riding the cable car in San Francisco with Laura and Adam in 2000.  Things that you say and do that make me laugh.   "How is a person to know" to start our trip to New York.  The infamous incident at the Paris marathon expo.


Laura and Adam, "you are the best of my life."  Who says that, what's that from?


I treasure the memories of many swim meets, trips to Seattle for sectionals. Watching you compete at something you loved so much. You became my reluctant running partner and the trips to the starting lines and driving back home, moments that have meant so much to me.


Driving halfway to the Georgetown 1/2 marathon only to discover you only had one shoe. 


Having you tie my shoe in a clown bow at the end of my first marathon in San Diego and running a marathon with you 12 years later in Paris. 


Getting to be your friend as an adult.  An intention from Sobfest 2005. 


Adam-Broncos, Nuggets, Rockies games.  


Going to Disneyland with you and Kelly's family in 2001.  A memory I will always treasure. 


Ragtime, three magical days for me.  Hearing your voice resonating during the prologue.
  
Tender, touching moments that moved the audience. 


The search for the elusive clean game in bowling. 


Seeing you pound the ball past me on the golf course.


Getting to be your friend as an adult. 


Laura and Adam, "you are the best of my life."  Who says that, what's that from?


I have treasured my life with you. I am so honored that you are my children and that we are the best of friends.


To my family, I love you all and I am so grateful to you for the life you shared with me. 

This was really an emotional exercise for me and it really made me present to something I am not always present to. 


So to rewrite a line from my wife's favorite movies:

Clarence "You see Ross, you really had a wonderful life."


Clarence "Strange isn't. Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole doesn't he?"

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Wonderful Women

I was on Facebook earlier this morning and just happened to stumble on a comment posted by Patti Digh in response to link that was posted by Kim Mailhot(A.K.A, the Rock Fairy).

Patti's response was "love, love, Love this!"  Well if Patti loves something it is something I want to check out.

I clicked on the link to a post from Kim's blog and by the end of the article, I was in tears.  These are the good kind of tears where you are so incredibly touched by kindness and love that the tears just fall.

I had written to Kim about two weeks ago asking her to limber up her fairy wings and see if she would make  some rocks for Cassandra Perkins woman of the year campaign.

Cassandra, her mom Joni, and I intend to rock this campaign and we are thinking big.  Last time Kim made a batch of rocks(100)  for Laura and me as we were training and fundraising for the Paris marathon last year.

Who better to help us rock this campaign and in the process rock cancer than the Rock Fairy. I asked Kim could we place a larger order?  500 rocks, maybe even 1000?

You can read an inspiring story of love and kindness by clicking here.

Cassandra and I were at a fundraising kickoff meeting earlier this week and we were presented with an icebreaker set of questions.

Who you are.
What your role is in the campaign.
What super power would you have?

Cassandra's answers:

Cassandra Perkins
Woman of the year candidate
"I don't know if this is a super power or not, but if it is, I would put an end to bullying."

Kim referred to Cassandra as a 15 year old wonder woman.  I really loved that description of her and think it is very accurate.

Before coming to the meeting, Cassandra had given a presentation to a group of 25 girls at a middle school,
"Be the voice" on bullying.   Her mom told me that Cassandra had changed the lives of 25 girls!  How awesome is that?

15 year old wonder woman?  Yes!



Just as Cassandra has the backs of these young woman that she advocates for, the Rock Fairy's have Cassandra's back and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's back.

The Rock Fairy's advocating for a world without cancer!

Who is going to win in this fight against cancer, against bullying?

My money is on these wonderful women.


"Love is the answer to every question, Baby!"~Kim Mailhot

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Verb Tribe writing class

Creating a sustainable writing practice

I signed up for an on-line writing class for the next 37 days.

I am really excited to see if I can create a sustainable writing practice over the next 37 days.

Day 1 is in the books.

Let's see where this takes me.

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