Pride

I am not typically one to boast about my accomplishments, and I even have a hard time accepting compliments (although I am trying to be better about that.)  I'm not one for the limelight.  I wanted a courthouse wedding...that way I was much less the center of attention than in a lavish ceremony.  (I did win that battle, by the way!)  I write and blog and am much more comfortable sharing my feelings that way.

However, I did want to share my pride in our accomplishment with Henry's memorial blood drive.  This was Tim's idea, and he was the one organizing the drive with the Red Cross.  I contributed ideas, and shared it on Facebook, but it was definitely his baby.  In fact, I was dreading the blood drive a bit...another event where we are a bit in the spotlight...where I have to be social and interact (appropriately) with people...and I had to be up bright and early while skipping my morning coffee so as not to interfere with my own blood donation!  But now as I sit back, I find that I truly enjoyed the day.  I enjoyed, once again, seeing so many people come out in support of Henry's mission, and our mission...to give back and to make this world just a little bit better.

Tim and I are so proud of both of our boys.  Although they are not here on earth, they are most certainly making a difference.  Personally, I had never considered donating blood.  I know people need blood, and I know it can save lives, but I always thought someone else can make that difference...they don't really need me.  Yet seeing all the blood products Henry went through during his short hospital stay changed my mind, and it made me that much more passionate about this event.  If my blood could save even one life, or give a person just one more day, why wouldn't I want to give?  And probably a quarter of our donors today were first time donors...that's Henry's influence.

And, here comes a bit of the boasting part, I am proud of Tim and I.  It would be so easy for us to say forget it...we've been through too much...we have nothing left to give.  Instead, we go out there and make what difference we can.  No, we're not raising thousands or millions of dollars for cancer research.  We aren't pioneering new treatments.  But we could be saving a life.  And to that one person who's life might be saved, that's a pretty big difference.  As much as some days I just want to dig a big deep hole and disappear, I know that I want more to carry my boys' legacy of strength and caring.

Thank you to all of you who are a part of A Monster's Mission.  Thank you for reading our story, for following our blog, for attending our events, for thinking of us and praying for us.  Thank you for helping us to carry out Henry's mission of love, hope, and strength.