this is what it’s about

i bought 3 books today: time traveler’s wife, running with scissors, and a million little pieces. i’m looking forward to kickin back, turning the brain off, and indulging in some good reads.

in other news, i met a really unfortunate family today that i vowed to sponsor this year for christmas. she’s a 57 y/o woman with really bad lung and heart disease and as i was talking with her today in the hospital i learned that her 38 y/o son is struggling with brain cancer and she is struggling to not only care for him, but his 8 y/o son, her grandson. surgery to remove the brain tumor has left his brain damaged enough that now he is unable to work and has severe memory impairment, not to mention the impairment chemo and radiation therapy can cause. both he and his 8 y/o son now have to live with the woman i met today (the child’s mother’s whereabouts are unknown) as he lost his job, his health insurance, and had nowhere to turn. with both she and her son physically ill with very real disease, they are unable to work and are currently in the throws of disability applications, medicaid applications, food stamp applications, and are 2 steps away from being homeless. I was actually talking to her about something very simple, like transportation resources, when i asked if anything else was on her mind. that’s when she asked me, with tears streaming down her face, if i could give her resources on toy drives, as there was no way she could financially afford gifts this year for her grandson, let alone physically shop for gifts. she’ll be lucky if she makes it out of the hospital and home for Christmas. when i started asking about her grandson, she just beamed with Pride. “He’s never missed a day of school, ever. We’re just so proud of him,” she said, crying and clutching her heart. It was very emotional for me. I just can’t imagine a child waking up on the most magical day of the year to no presents. Without hesitation, i told her we’d adopt her and her family for Christmas this year. I wasn’t sure how it would happen, but i figured i’d rally up some support. and that’s exactly what happened. i talked to a doctor or two, the charge nurse on our floor, and before the day was over, we had a full-on plan to make this Christmas absolutely spectacular for this very deserving family. and everyone is so excited about it. can i just say i love the nurses and the doctors i work with ? they need clothes, shoes, toys!, books, puzzles, winter coats, games. i wish i could describe the joy in this woman’s tears and words when i told her we’d sponsor her family. she just couldn’t believe it. she was over-joyed, like she just was given a brand new house, or something. my heart felt so, so good. so that’s that. plans are set to deliver all the gifts late on christmas eve so he’ll be all sorts of surprised on christmas morning. the doctors are buying him a playstation2, which she told me would be his wildest, biggest dream. and today i spent some time roaming the sales for really cute, stylin clothes at the old navy kid’s section. and we’ll be sure to treat her and the child’s father, too. i can’t wait. this is what it’s about.