Uno Dose

It was a big day for hubby and me. Not only have we survived 385 days in wedded lockdown (sort of), it was also Day 1 of fighting. Not each other, but fighting back against this pandemic. We celebrated with a date at the drive-in.

More like a drive-thru.

Here we are waiting at the airport to drive in...

When it was our turn, we got to drive into the magical building of sharp needles on a mission!

Honestly, I didn't even feel the shot. We got the Moderna vaccine and will get the second shot in 4 weeks.

We're pretty excited to the first dose out of the way. That's one step closer to possible normalcy. And one step closer way sooner than we imagined.

And we're not special. We're just two people in the 18-64 age group who got called up, so to speak. Now granted, we were on this specific list because they were allowing us through the school since we've got a coach and full-time volunteer in the house.

But we had signed up online through one of local pharmacies (Hometown Pharmacy) and our county health department. Last week, we got calls from both that our names were next on the list. So we would've had them by today anyway.

So my PSA (pandemic service announcement) for the day is GET YOURSELF SIGNED UP SOMEWHERE! Seriously, when they have extra doses, they don't want them to go to waste. They'll call whoever's next and you just need to be ready to go!

The sooner we all do this, the better, in my opinion. Plus you can sign up both you and your soul mate and make a date out of it. So far – knock on wood – a painless one with no regrets!

Hoping for Miracles

When there is ice cream for a good cause – I mean legitimately good cause – I gotta participate. It's the right thing to do.

Today was the 12th annual Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queens everywhere. For every Blizzard Treat purchased, $1 or more goes to help sick kids treated at Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Did you know that every day CMN hospitals treat 16,200 kids with trauma, 935 kids with diabetes, 2,128 kids with cancer, 2,329 kids for surgeries and 925 babies in NICU. That's a lot of miracles needed on a daily basis. Glad my Peanut Butter Cup CheeseQuake Blizzard could help.

I'm also hoping a praying really hard for some miracles for kids tonight.

No matter what age they are, our children are still our babies. We love them. We fear for them. We hurt for them. We would do anything for them.

I have some parents (of adults and newborns) who could really use your prayers tonight. One friend has a newborn being rushed to a hospital for emergency surgery. Another friend has a 20-year-old daughter who is desperately fighting a drug addiction.

These "babies" deserve a chance to make it. They aren't just our children, they are God's children. Let's gently remind Him we urgently need a few of his miracles today.

On behalf of my friends, thanks for your support.

Rising Together

Even though I signed the permission slip a few days ago for Carter to attend a drug-related education presentation by RISE TOGETHER, I forgot about it.

Until some mention on Facebook triggered my memory late this afternoon. And God saw to it that I saw it. I promptly texted Carter and asked how the student presentation was today. He said, "It was very good, in my opinion. Definitely worth it." So I decided I would take the night "off" and go to the evening session geared toward parents and other community members.

What is RISE TOGETHER? In a nutshell, they are a recovery advocacy group that has a passion for prevention, education and community outreach. It was started a few years ago by co-founders Anthony Alvarado and Douglas Darby, both in long-term recovery. The group is comprised of recovering addicts, family members and friends, advocates, and professionals within the community. The primary focus is on preventing substance use and abuse by our youth.

Since the founding of RISE TOGETHER, members have been creating positive change in Wisconsin and beyond. They have spoken in front of thousands of people, mostly students. As they put it, bringing education and awareness to our youth is the key to making a positive difference in any community.

In the past two days, they made multiple presentations in Wisconsin Rapids to reach approximately 3,000 middle and high school students. The presenters – teens and young adults – bring a face and voice to recovery by sharing stories, while bringing hope to the addicts who struggle every day and help prevent our youth from going down the same path of suffering.

Carter said the stories were pretty intense and moving. And I agreed.

Although we had a few different speakers at our sessions, Carter and I both heard from a mother who brought her 21-year-old daughter along – in the form of ashes in an urn – and shared her heartbreaking tale of losing her girl over a heroin overdose. He thought her story was tragic and I, as a mother, couldn't hold it together either.

Much of the focus for us adults was on statistics pointing to the epidemic of heroin use in our community. Heroin? In our little Wisconsin town? Oh yes. I wish the crowd would have been bigger tonight since I have a feeling a good majority of our population is in denial about that. They shared some disturbing statistics, even more disturbing when we parents see what our children are exposed to and have access to. Majorly scary.

When a 17-year-old local boy shared his story of addiction, overdose and near death, I got goose bumps. The kind generated from fear. What kind of world am I sending my own almost 17-year-old into each day?

Thankfully, the group's other message was of hope. I should say hope AND recovery. While the members of RISE TOGETHER desire to prompt communities to focus on prevention, they also urge them to recognize that recovery is possible. Even more so when the appropriate help is available.

There is such a misunderstanding about addiction and recovery. If you have experienced it or know a loved one who has, then you get it, know why it's hard to fight and conquer... and you believe in the power of hope.

I do hope their presentations had an impact on all who attended. I especially hope the students could grasp the life-and-death impact on the prevention end of things. That's where it needs to start. I personally don't need to see another memorial photo or hear another overdose story or poem about wanting to die to escape the harsh realities of being a teenager.

High school life can be hard. Been there. Done that. Know that. What we need our struggling and stressed-out youth to also know is that there are other ways besides drugs to cope with it.

We can face it together if we just RISE TOGETHER, right?

Unlisted

I decided to bypass my "40 Bags in 40 Days" Lent list tonight for another list: This year's Oscar-nominated movies I want to see.

Went over to my BFF's house and it was basically a flip of the coin tonight which sad and/or sadistic film we wanted to view: Dallas Buyers Club or 12 Years A Slave.

Tonight we chose Dallas Buyers Club starring now-Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey. Wasn't too familiar with the plot or the fact that it is based on a true story. A quick synopsis: In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof (aka McConaughey) works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is himself diagnosed with the disease.

For those of us who recall 1985, it was the year most of us were surprised by the cause of Rock Hudson's death. What is AIDS? And who gets it? Can I get it if the afflicted person touches me or even lives in my neighborhood or goes to my school?

So much misunderstood. And so much helplessness about curing the disease.

That was reflected in this film, along with the main character's drive to help people in the same boat. Given 30 days to live, he was on a mission. His mantra: Dare to Live.

What would I do with only 30 days? Help others or help myself?

I doubt the answer is that simple. And that's what makes a good movie. Forcing us to think beyond the 1 hour and 57 minutes.

Christine and I give it two thumbs up.

Manic Monday

Oh is it hard getting back to the daily grind when you've essentially been away from your desk for 4 days.

I still had some car show "cleanup" to get done today, but I had so much other catching up to do, I never made it outside. When we did step out at the end of the work day, it was pretty stinkin' toasty out! I would have been disgustingly sweaty if I had "worked" outside earlier. Probably a good thing I can't get to it until tomorrow.

After work, we went to pick up Carter at his babysitting job. All in all, that's going pretty good for him. He enjoys the kids but has had a few challenges now and then. I think that's good. That maybe gives him a little insight into how frustrated Mom and Dad can get when he cops an attitude. Not an attitude, really, just answering in that annoyed tone that sounds disrespectful. (Sort of like my mother heard when I was, oh, about 13!)

Got home and Jim went to drop the CRV off for an oil change and I went grocery shopping. Don't you love when you make out a nice organized list (in order of buying from the back of the store to the front), then get to the store and realize the list is sitting at home on the counter? Grrr. Well I still managed to spend almost a hundred bucks so I figured I got everything.

Close. All but one thing so that's pretty good!

The guys don't care anyway. They are too busy watching the All-Star Home Run Derby, which, like everything else, looks great in HD. Our only challenge now with our new TV is that our DVD player is so old it can't connect to the TV without some expensive converter. We like our surround sound though, so I had to "browse" at Wal-Mart for some sort of replacement in-home theater system. I didn't buy anything without talking to hubby first, but it's amazing we can get it for less than half of what we paid for our system about 8 years ago.

Why is it that technology keeps getting cheaper but gasoline costs keep going up? Unfortunately, we're dependent on both!

These days, I am also dependent on drugs. Can't seem to shake that congestion and cough crud I started a week ago. I am treating it as allergies -- but now recall that this is what I did last summer and I ended up having bronchitis. So we'll keep close tabs on this.

It's quite possible this is a side effect of going too many days without ice cream! Sorry, Mr. Pharmacist, I've got my own cure for that.

Child Safety

I was planning to post some pictures from this past weekend tonight but I thought, why not share my favorite picture of the week first?!

Sort of a serious look for a 7th-grader, but these are serious times.

Earlier this week, my great-nephew Anthony (also a 7th-grader) turned 13. What? A teen already? Carter won't be far behind. How did we get these big boys all of a sudden -- and is there a way to stop them from growing up any more?

Nope. My niece and I (and a whole lotta of other 7th-grade moms and dads I know) are in for the ride of our lives. Some of you parents of post-teenagers are probably smiling and thinking, "I hope you go through what I had to!"

I'm guessing we will. Not really any way to avoid it. And, yes, I'll admit, that scares me.

I think what scares me most is that little by little my baby is getting out there in the world and I can't protect him. I can't keep him safe. Car seats, sippy cups, hand holding... all gone. He's "out there" now, looking all serious and adult-like and facing adult-like issues and decisions.

Seventh-grade seems too young for that. But it's not. Not anymore.

Carter told me he heard of some 7th-graders at the public school who got busted for having "pot and marijuana" at school. I said, "Pot is marijuana." He said, "Oh, I didn't know that was the same thing." He shouldn't have to!

Yes, it's a scary world out there. We can't protect our kids from everything, but we can arm them with common sense and a solid base of knowing what's right and wrong.

Prayers help, too. Maybe not for them -- but for me! I sure feel more at peace when I know Someone else is watching over my baby when I can't be there. Don't you?

Side effects

Television commercials for pharmaceuticals these days are so scary they're almost entertaining.

Whether it's your head, heart, feet or parts we don't need to talk about, most of the commercials start out with this serene scene on the beach or in a hammock or perhaps enjoying a Sunday drive. Your life will be so calm and wonderful with this new drug.

Then you hear the "possible" side effects. Typically, you'll deal with fatigue, nausea and headaches. But in some rare cases, they say, your heart will race, you'll poop your pants, you'll bleed out of your ears and you'll grow hair on your nose.

Then, they suggest, you should report that to your doctor and stop taking the medication. You don't say?! Usually when I see these commercials I'm convinced I'd rather suffer with the health problem than the side effects!

My sister told me tonight she ran across the side effects for the medication our mom is taking for her restless legs syndrome -- called RLS these days, but known to all of us kids as "jerky legs." Apparently the drug Mom takes is capable of triggering compulsive behaviors.

I wish I was joking, but according to the company's Web site, the side effects for this drug really say: There have been reports of patients taking certain medications to treat Parkinson's disease or RLS (including Mom's) that have reported problems with gambling, compulsive eating, and increased sex drive.

Well I know my parents, especially Mom, enjoy an awful lot of time at the casino -- and I don't want details on anything else! I always associated the gambling with their retirement age. I mean who else has time to take all these casino bus trips? But could Mom's love for the nickel slots be tied to when she began those meds? If so, can we sue the drug company for her one-armed bandit losses?

Interesting, isn't it? Makes you want to start reading labels ... or perhaps start taking the Jerky Leg pills. You might be fat and poor, but according to patient reports, it'll spice up your marriage!