Help Wanted!

Heroes aren’t the people who star in movies. Heroes aren’t the people who make the most money. Heroes aren’t even the people who are the smartest or the fastest or the nicest. Heroes are those everyday people who do extraordinary things. From policemen, firefighters, and soldiers to doctors and nurses to mom’s and dad’s—heroes are the people who openly, willingly, and freely help others. Until recently though, I had never really thought about who my “heroes” were. Sure, I was grateful for all of the sacrifices that others had given--from soldiers laying down their lives to doctors going to countless years of school to learn to my mom’s endless love and support—but--I had never truly recognized or acknowledged the notion of “heroes.”

Yet, that all changed when my Mom and Chris chose to have my brother, Andrew and my sister, Erin become organ and cornea donors. Through this selfless act, my siblings were able to transform into heroes, who have not only helped 7 other people to physically live and thrive but have inspired countless others to give a little bit of what they have to help even more people. What exactly do I mean? Well, when my Mom and Chris made the decision to donate Erin’s cornea and Andrew’s cornea and organs, we were introduced to a wonderful group of people from LifeBanc. During the time at the hospital, as doctors and nurses worked to monitor and prepare Andrew to help make sure his organ’s were healthy and could be donated, LifeBanc covered ALL of the medical expenses. Then, after Andrew’s organs had been sent to different areas all over the country, LifeBanc helped us to contact the recipients and we have even received a thank-you letter from the man who received Andrew’s heart. And that is only the beginning. LifeBanc has continued to help us through this difficult time of healing by providing us with an outpouring of support, whether it is just a quick e-mail or a phone call to say hello, we feel so blessed to have had the opportunity for Erin and Andrew to become heroes.

And now I am asking for a small favor from everyone who reads my blog. LifeBanc is having a 5K/10K/1.5 Walk Fundraiser on August 14th at Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, Ohio. My family has formed a team, The Drewin Crew and would love to add to our growing list of runners and walkers. We currently have the largest team and have been blown away by the outpouring of donations we have received. There is even a press release going out about the event (click here to read!) to help generate even more support. Even if you can’t make it for the run (since I know most of my blog friends don’t live near Cleveland), we are also able to accept monetary donations for the team. All the proceeds from the Fundraiser are being used to help spread awareness about organ donation and to assist in offsetting the medical costs that LifeBanc incurs as a result of helping families cover the medical costs of organ donors, like Andrew.

I feel truly blessed to be able to share about this wonderful organization with all of you and hope that I can help to generate even more support for this great event through my blog! Please share this post with all of your friends, family, and fellow bloggers so that we can continue to help support the LifeBanc Event! So start sharing ya’ll!

Click here for a link to the LifeBanc Registration/Donation Page!

Chinese Water Torture

This post has absolutely no point, so I apologize in advance. If you want to stop reading now, I would completely understand, in fact, I may even recommend it. So if you get about half way through and are questioning if this post is some kind of cruel Chinese water torture, just remember…you were warned.

1. Normally I am not all that into slapstick humor but lately I have been finding the most ridiculous things funny. What types of things you ask? Well let me try to explain. So as I am talking to my friend Becky on the phone (a feat in and of itself because I truly despise talking on the phone), she begins to tell me about the date she went on to a restaurant called Steak on a Stone. Naturally I ask her what type of steak and side she ordered. If it were me going, I would go with a filet and a baked potato covered in enough butter to make Paula Deen cringe and I would probably want a roll or two to sop up the steak juices and also probably dessert. But I digress. So anyway, Becky tells me that she ordered chicken and steamed broccoli. Thinking I may have misheard or her or perhaps been in a caffeine-induced coma (I had about 4 cups of coffee that morning) I asked her to repeat what she had gotten. No worries, my ears and fine and no coma to report—instead I got a full-fledged ab workout from laughing, at the fact that my friend ordered chicken and broccoli at a customized steak restaurant, where they grill the steak in front of you. About ten minutes later, after I finally recovered from my hysterical laughing, I asked her why exactly she chose chicken and broccoli and she claimed “I no longer like the taste of steak.” Which set me off laughing again. For at least another ten minutes. And that is only one example of the ridiculous things I have been laughing at.
2. We put our house up for sale last Friday and someone is doing a walk-through tomorrow. Apparently these said home wreckers (in case you are a bit behind on my posts, I am not too thrilled with this whole moving thing) are from New Jersey. Which has lead me to imagine a woman with a Bump-It in her hair and a man popping ‘roids walking through my house and snarkily commenting on the lack of any Italian paraphernalia or a built-in tanning bed. Disclaimer: I have in fact NEVER actually watched the tv show Jersey Shore, nor have I ever been to New Jersey. I am sure it is a great state with many wonderful people. And I am also sure the tv show details the lives of very down-to-earth, normal people—I mean it is, after all, reality tv.
3. I have a slight obsession with watermelon. It is my all-time favorite fruit and since it is in season, I am addicted. Seriously. I may need to be in rehab when the fall hits and watermelon is no longer available. I am cutting up one of these bad boys about every 3 days.
4. I think I may have overfed my fish Felix. I feed him ever y night before I go to bed and the other night I accidently dumped in about ¾ of a container of fish food. He is looking rather lethargic and even after I tap on the glass he is still just kind of floating around—NO he is not floating around because he is dead. I think he just overate and can’t figure out how to recover, kind of like how I feel for about 4 hours after eating on Thanksgiving…

To try and redeem myself I will try to wrap up with a few comments that may in fact have some sort of substance to them.

1. As I have mentioned a few times before, reading is one of my all-time favorite hobbies. Currently I am reading the book The Help, by Kathryn Stockett. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it. It is set in the 1960’s and chronicles the lives of several different women living in the South. Specifically, it contrasts the experiences of 4 white women and from what I can tell so far, 3 African American women. It is a stellar read thus far and I am having a hard time putting it down.
2. While I love, love, love to run I have rarely tried out my abilities in a competitive context. I have run a few 5K’s here and there but nothing too serious. However, on August 14th I am training to hopefully run my first 10K. If you live in the Cleveland area and want to support a great cause, please sign up for the LifeBanc 5K/10K/1.5 Walk. LifeBanc is a terrific organization that needs help to spread awareness about all of the wonderful things it does to help support families who have individuals who are donor candidates as well as families who are donor recipients and of course the recipients themselves. Click here to go to the link for the event. My family is sponsoring a team called The Drewin Crew and would appreciate any runners/walkers/donations. Thanks in advance.

Well, if you made it through to here, kudos. I will try to post something more meaningful next time but I can’t make any promises!