Some days, humankind gets me down. Some days, it frustrates me. Some days, it even makes me cranky. Today, small acts of kindness filled three buses full of medical supplies and other supplies bound for Haiti. All with a little posting on our internal TMC website and a few stories in the local media.
It was kind of a quickly thrown together effort to generate some good will. We put out a little notice to "stuff the bus" with items to go to Tucson nonprofit World Care -- and the response was astonishing.
Here are some notable inspiration from the day (Friends who were there, please feel free to comment) ....
1. One young woman brought up two bags of first aid supplies from CVS, she said it was all she could buy with the money she had left until payday on Thursday. But she wanted to do what she could.
2. Physicians offices dropped off medical gowns, medical tape and other medical items by the cases. Took time from their busy office schedule to stuff the bus.
3. One man from the hospital came over with a large amount of cash. He didn't want a receipt. He wanted to make a difference.
4. A family shopped all weekend for supplies for the bus -- infant formula, disinfecting wipes, beans and rice, and much more. The young girl, apparently, was confused for a while as to exactly who this "Haiti" person was .... but she understand that Haiti needed help. And, that was enough for her!
And, my darling little friend Alejandro was so concerned about the little boys and girls and babies who died in Haiti -- he wanted to drive the shuttle there. I explained that the shuttle wouldn't do so well going over the ocean, but we would make sure all the donations got there safely. He didn't understand exactly where Haiti was or exactly how earthquakes happen (we Googled it together on my Blackberry), but he understood that people were in pain and, hopefully, this was one more life lesson as to how to make a difference one kind-hearted person at a time.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Friday, January 22, 2010
Run Fat Girl Run
I am not a runner. My family runs -- but I -- being a rebel -- do not. I do lots of other things, but I do not run. Now, this gets complicated because occasionally I agree to do some sort of running event. It's not typically a 5K or a 10K or even a one mile fun run. No, really the only running events I seem to think merit paying good money for are half marathons.
In mid-October 2009, I was having a lovely day with some friends and somewhere between beer, wine and dinner we all agreed to run the PF Chang half marathon in January. Seemed a long way away. I had to ride the 109 version of El Tour de Tucson before 2010 would be even close.
Well, October passed, El Tour passed and I had to train -- running miles and miles and miles. One training run in Sahaurita -- I stopped running (about mile 9.5) when I saw elephants in the park across the street. That became a rule -- you see elephants, you stop running. I have other rules and gimics and tricks to get me to run.
Shortly after we set this goal, I did a long bike ride and then, for some reason, watched the New York Marathon on television. Weird to watch a marathon on TV. They were following the leaders including Paula Radcliffe who, apparently was not having a good day. The announcer almost gleefully noted that Paula was running a "pedestrian" 5:51 pace. Holy cow, I thought. If that is pedestrian, I am apparently sleeping when I run.
Regardless, I try to keep my commitments so after El Tour I started training. And running and training. And last weekend, I completed the half marathon amongst a group of real runners, several of whom ran the full marathon. When I crossed the finish line very far behind where I wanted to be and not very happy, I decided to just put a smile on my face, but to let people know I wasn't going to run any more. Ever.
Amazingly, or perhaps not so amazingly, the people who I knew who also ran -- people who completed the marathon in around 4 hours or quicker -- and others completed the half marathon a good 45 minutes before me -- were quick to see something in me I have never seen. A runner. A slow runner. Who sometimes limps because her funky toe doesn't bend right. But, a runner nevertheless.
I am not quite there in my head. Not ready to say I am a runner. But, with the encouragement of friends, I am signing up for more races and foot adventures. Run Fat Girl Run.....
In mid-October 2009, I was having a lovely day with some friends and somewhere between beer, wine and dinner we all agreed to run the PF Chang half marathon in January. Seemed a long way away. I had to ride the 109 version of El Tour de Tucson before 2010 would be even close.
Well, October passed, El Tour passed and I had to train -- running miles and miles and miles. One training run in Sahaurita -- I stopped running (about mile 9.5) when I saw elephants in the park across the street. That became a rule -- you see elephants, you stop running. I have other rules and gimics and tricks to get me to run.
Shortly after we set this goal, I did a long bike ride and then, for some reason, watched the New York Marathon on television. Weird to watch a marathon on TV. They were following the leaders including Paula Radcliffe who, apparently was not having a good day. The announcer almost gleefully noted that Paula was running a "pedestrian" 5:51 pace. Holy cow, I thought. If that is pedestrian, I am apparently sleeping when I run.
Regardless, I try to keep my commitments so after El Tour I started training. And running and training. And last weekend, I completed the half marathon amongst a group of real runners, several of whom ran the full marathon. When I crossed the finish line very far behind where I wanted to be and not very happy, I decided to just put a smile on my face, but to let people know I wasn't going to run any more. Ever.
Amazingly, or perhaps not so amazingly, the people who I knew who also ran -- people who completed the marathon in around 4 hours or quicker -- and others completed the half marathon a good 45 minutes before me -- were quick to see something in me I have never seen. A runner. A slow runner. Who sometimes limps because her funky toe doesn't bend right. But, a runner nevertheless.
I am not quite there in my head. Not ready to say I am a runner. But, with the encouragement of friends, I am signing up for more races and foot adventures. Run Fat Girl Run.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)