GardenGrrl's WunderBlog

Thank You & Joy #87

Posted by: GardenGrrl, 3:53 PM GMT on November 29, 2011

This is now officially the happy Christmas blog.

If you have pictures of Christmas Kitsch post it here. Holiday Jokes etc. Left the comments from the old blog because I can't figure out how to import all the holiday pics to a new blog.

Under the catagory don't take fashion advice from cockatoos (or drink their eggnog), here's another from Holiday Public Service Message from Syd;

Updated: 9:21 PM GMT on December 23, 2011

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The CHOOSE HOPE Project

Posted by: GardenGrrl, 5:50 PM GMT on November 16, 2011

Random Acts of Kindness; tweaking the nose of darkness through one smile or good deed at a time.

Maybe you are one of those people that holds a door for a stranger. Perhaps you fed a coin into an expired parking meter and saved someone a ticket. Then you move on never knowing the effects of your actions. You just hope it made someone’s day better and that they pass on the good will.

Sometimes being kind to strangers makes a difference. Sometimes the difference is life changing. I’ve had a stranger come to me later and say what I did for him made a difference. It was a small thing, just being polite and respectful, but apparently that day it made a difference in the choices that man made.

These things seem to pay themselves forward. After being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, having surgery and starting recovery, chemo happened. Chemo, is just as rough and disheartening as it’s been made out to be. A big mistake was going on the internet to learn more about ovarian cancer. According to some internet sites I’m a dead girl walking. (Side Note; if you have a serious disease, don’t read about it on the internet unless you want to be really discouraged about your recovery. Find a nice book on beating whatever you have and stick with that.)

After reading the doom sites and getting beat up by chemo, it put me in a really dark place. The kind of dark place that gets you thinking stupid thoughts even friends and family can’t pull you out of. It took the random kindness of a stranger to give me hope again. Someone from the grocery store we shop at, a gal I have never talked to, gave my spouse a cancer survivor ink pen to give to me. The outside said, “Courage, Hope, Strength, Cure”. When clicked, a window would roll to sayings like, “Fight Like A Girl”, “You Are Not Alone”.

In the shape of a pink pen with inspirational sayings it seemed the Universe actually cared. It was then I decided that cancer may or may not kill my body, but I will not let it kill who I am. Instead of giving up I chose Hope.

Still have my up and down moments so thought about getting an inspirational tat on my arm. But, it just didn’t seem like quite the right thing to do. Then came the idea of making wrist bands that say CHOOSE HOPE. They can be given to people who are going through hard times. They just arrived this week. So far some have been randomly handed out. I plan on visiting nearby oncology practices to deliver wristbands. Some I’ve given to store clerks I’m friendly with to hand out to customers going through hard times. I always keep a few in my purse now.

If you would like to participate in the CHOOSE HOPE Project, send a WU mail with your address and I will send you some wrist bands. You don’t have to give them out all at once, it doesn’t just have to be people with cancer, these are for anyone being gob-smacked by life. You can give one to someone who knows someone else going through a hard time to give to them. It’s all good.

If you need a wrist band for yourself, send a WU mail, I’ll send you one plus three others...

And yes, I Fight Like A Girl.