So here it begins - my actual blog. I have a million ideas in my head and now it is time. Time the rubber meets the road. The pen hits the paper. The fingers hit the keys. Yikes!
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. I just finished packaging up my care packages for our trip to IU. Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis, IN. I was a patient there three years ago. I was not well. Very sick. And now, three years later, the only place I want to be is back up there. I am sure that sounds strange and maybe it is a little. There is a sense of safe I feel there.
I've had this idea for awhile now, I knew I wanted to do something. Give something. Be something. Stand for something. My hope for Keep Pushing Through is it will be just that. Encouragement. Engaging. Informative. Serious. Real. Or maybe it's just a 'lil grace to get through the day.
So...Thanksgiving. I wrote a letter to the director of Volunteer Services for IU Health, explaining I wanted to come up to Indy for Thanksgiving and share care packages with patients and families. As we emailed back and forth, it was determined the best way to make all of this happen would be to have me go through full volunteer application, orientation, background check, blood work, health screening - the whole nine yards. It's 1:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning and I am happy to report I've passed through all the hurtles and am cleared as a volunteer with IU.
So what goes in my "care packages". They are more like reusable grocery bags than packages. I tried to think of what I liked while I was in the hospital. What did I love. What did I miss. What did I use a lot.
This year, because I hope this is the first year of Keep Pushing Through and every year it gets bigger and bigger. The care packages contain a blanket, cozy socks, hand sanitizer, kleenex, chapstick, mints, coloring books, colored pencils, word searches, and a book. And a nice little card from me with some quotes to take along with them.
I also had nifty little "business cards" made that have my name and email address and this here lovely blog. We shall see.
I hope this grows into a source of inspiration for many one day. A girl can dream right. And at least I can say, I went for it. This is just the beginning.