Be a tea bag with me!

One of the darkest times in my life was during my separation and divorce.  Amongst issues between the girls and their father of a personal nature, during this period in my life false claims were made about me, my Pastor wrote an inaccurate letter, there were lost friendships, lost court papers and financial concerns as I was trying to manage a house that just wouldn't sell. 

At some point along this journey I came across a quote ....

 "A woman is like a tea bag, you cannot tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water” 

 Looking back at that time, I would have never guessed in a million years that I would have been strong enough to discuss Defamation of Character with a Lawyer, contact my local MPP and Ontario Ombudsman as well as hold meetings with my Pastor and his team.  I would have probably told you that the thought of doing all that was nauseating.  Looking back I would have told you that you were crazy to think I could pack up our entire house in 4 days because of an extremely quick closing date and that the friendships lost obviously weren’t as special as I had thought.  And looking back I would have never predicted that I would be sharing all this with you.  With the help of my family and friends who stepped up when I needed them the most, I was a tea bag.

My daughter brought me back to that Quote the other tonight when, during the drive home from gymnastics, she spoke to us about being upset that a young girl in her class resorted to bullying her.  We spoke to her about how we would address this with the centre and encouraged her to address this with her teacher when and if it happened again and she said that she was not strong enough to do so.   She was scared to stand up for herself because she is petite and the other girl is taller.

And so it seems my role is to now teach my beautiful young lady that she is stronger then she knows!  Those little hands can do big things; the size of the person is nothing compared to the size of their heart and determination and that she has a voice!  Time to teach my baby girl that she is a tea bag.

Elmo Family FUNdraiser: .

Elmo Family FUNdraiser: .: "Join us at Taima Zone on April 29th from 5 to 9 pm for a FUNdraiser the whole family will enjoy. Proceeds to Benefit Zack's Dream Room at Yo..."

Gifts

Late the other night while laying in bed and thinking about Zack Hamilton & Family I found myself reflecting on the various "gifts" people have...

My thoughts turned to music... and a young man, my friend, who was called Home to the Lord just a few years ago when hit by a drunk driver while trying to guide the driver of his touring bus into a church parking lot.   Warren played the piano and eventually was taught how to sing by his wife who is a beautiful singer.  When he was a teen we would watch and listen to him practice over and over again and when he and his wife toured as ParkerTrio we caught as many shows as we could... just so that I could watch and listen to him play "I'll fly away".  I still play his tape that he made for me back in our highschool days and close my eyes to "watch" him play... what a gift he had!

As one who is relatively new to twitter, my experience with those who write Blogs was extremely limited and unfortunately, the little knowledge I had about blogs was not so positive...particularly of people putting their "this is who I want you to think I am" face on.  Over the past 3 months I have read more blogs and truly appreciate the blogs so many talented writers offer and their ability to speak openly and honestly, sharing so many stories of a personal nature. I have teared up while reading  But I Don't Blog as well as while reading Zack's Dream.... Honouring Zack  and laughed while reading Speed Skating Mom....  and this is just a small sample of the amazing writers are out there! What a gift they have!

Drawn by Kaitlyn

Children offer more then I can put into words... the girls can often get me laughing so hard that I have streams of tears rolling down my cheeks.  I'm not even going to expand on what their hugs, kisses and "mummy, I love you's" can do; that is an entire entry in of itself.  And the children that I work with just have to smile, say / sign a word, make a vocalization or look at me a certain way and the "rough day" is erased away...I think they "give" much more then I could ever give them....children are beautiful gifts!

Our red head has discovered the gift of drawing.  She has come so far in such a short time! I still remember the family picture she drew of us all including my husband in a cape for some unknown reason! She certainly didn't get this gift me, being a strong "stick-man" drawer and all... 

And then my thoughts return to Zack Hamilton... a young boy who was born with a deletion of the 12th chromosome; the first recorded case in the world.  As a newborn he was a fighter, undergoing a procedure to repair his heart, and even with the odds against him he took his first steps.  While we never had the opportunity to meet Zack, like so many, we were getting to know this beautiful family and their story through Twitter and through reading his mom's blog when he passed away last month.  They experienced a parents' worst nightmare; one that my husband experienced as well many years ago.  Our family watched his father's video tribute, leaving us in tears, read the tributes, looked at his pictures; trying to absorb the loss this family experienced and wanting so much to wipe their tears and hug their pain and suffering away.



Drawn by Kaitlyn

This beautiful young boy endured much pain and suffering during his short lifespan and despite this he lived life to the fullest!  Along the way he impacted more people then many can through an entire life span and he continues to inspire others to raise funds to build Zack's Dream Room, a room at  York Central Hospital dedicated to Zack decorated with his favourite character – Elmo.

 

My guess is that after reading about Zack and his family many children got extra hugs, many families were reminded of what they should be thankful for and many reached out to others in need.  Because of his amazing gift of inspiring others several creative and generous companies have stepped forward to honour him by donating a portion of their proceeds to Zack's Dream Room.  So many families have been further inspired to purchase these amazing products, knowing that they too would be contributing to this amazing young man's "Elmo" room!  Zack inspired our girls, KKL Bracelets, to make bracelets with a portion of the proceeds being donated to Zack's Dream room.  And this blog started with my thoughts on Zack.....What will Zack's life story inspire you to do?