Making ripples........

Oh so much has been going through my mind and yet so little......  I know - that sounds weird but it's so true too.  We were traveling for only three weeks this time, but the beauty we saw was simply amazing.  The man-made at Mt Rushmore, the absolute awe in Yellowstone National Park, the ongoing amazement over the Canadian Rockies both ways and those Northern Lights!  

I have come to the conclusion that all the beauty in this world is not only there to balance out the stuff that is not so good, but it also really puts everything into perspective for me.  There is no way I can stand at the edge of a geyser in the caldera of a living volcano, watching and listening to it boil and feel that I have any sort of control in the big scheme of life.  Driving through the Canadian Rockies, through those totally awesome mountains topped with glaciers hundreds of years old, with rivers that will flow with melted snow and ice whether I am there or not - well, this all helps put everything into perspective.  I think.

While driving the rv along many long and beautiful roads, my mind wandered over many topics and ideas, wishes and dreams.  One was why life is not fair.  I played with that one for a goodly while until it struck me (again) that life is neither fair nor unfair..... it just is.  I toyed with the idea that if we all had life our way, wanting no pain or suffering, bearing no losses of loved ones and having almost everything we felt was 'fair'.........well, maybe then we would all be stagnant.  Maybe then we would not appreciate what we have or who we have in our lives.  I know life is not as simple as this, but when I am out there, standing in the waters of a river in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by unending and majestic mountains - well, it all seems terribly simple and basic.  And then we get home again.  This is why I surround myself with photos of these beautiful places.

The mortality of myself and those that are firmly implanted in my heart, make me think seriously about what is important in life and what is not.  And again, when think about those deep blue pools of boiling water in Yellowstone, the towering mountains and especially those lights flitting across the sky...... I know, I KNOW that there is nothing as important in life as letting those that I love, know that I love them.  There is nothing as important as giving life everything I can and enjoying the awe of what I can see and the awe of what I can feel.

And now we are home again and very busy again which is totally amazing.  So many people waited with their sick computers, for us to come home and then descended like hungry vultures.  Frank even put in two new workstations, for a total of 8, which have been full almost all day, every day.   But I have still had time to sort through the photos of these lovely places we went and even started sorting the photos of the last trips.  I have hundreds of photos stapled to the walls of the shop and playing on computer screens, reminding me that there is always something bigger and more wonderful than any worry I have, that it will all go on, despite what is happening in my life.

And now it's time to start getting the blood and marrow drive on the road.  I met with Amber from Blood Assurance today - she has been so helpful and encouraging, what a lovely lady.  She brought me flyers that they had printed up for the drive and some other useful information too.  She also told me that her husband was recently identified as a matching marrow donor for a patient and just a few weeks ago went through the donation process.  Another hero!  

I am hoping that he will  share his thoughts on being a donor with us all on this blog. I was humbled by the tears in Amber's eyes as she described the process that he went through to save a stranger's life.  These people that donate, whether they are a sibling, a stranger or a friend - they are all absolute hero's in my eyes.  I also think that the more people can hear about their good experiences and how relatively easy and safe it is to save someone's life, I really believe that it could make a difference in the number on the marrow registry.

Just another thing.  My main drive has been to get the numbers up on the marrow registry, but recently I have been reading a few new blogs and it finally sunk in just how important it is to donate blood too.  I never realized how often people needed platelets after a transplant to 'pick them up' to give them strength and, well, to keep them alive and going!  So now I am pushing the blood donation side just as hard.  It's life.  It's truly life in the truest sense. For so many people in so many situations.

The fact that I have been so incredibly blessed to be able to see the amazing sights I have seen kinda gives me a responsibility to .......well, yes...... pay forward.  To give back to a life that is so wonderfully good to me.  The blood and marrow drive is one way I can do this, it is one way that I can take one step on the road that Adrian carved out........ 

If any of you are nearby, please join in on the 25th and donate blood, sign up on the marrow registry or just come and share your story.  We need to hear the transplant stories, need to meet the hero's who made them possible.  We need to make this part of life known and to let as many people know that giving life is possible with a relatively easy process.

Steven's pcr is to be drawn again on the 9th Oct and the wait starts again.  He looks great and, well, I am just simply so proud of how he is handling all of this.  I have handled it by writing this blog and meeting incredible people. 

Thank you, thank you

love and light

Annie

This is what I want to do - no, no - not to swim in icy glacier water, but to make ripples in life.  Lovely, gentle ripples and maybe they will turn into waves somewhere down the road.