His name is "Little Bliss"...I didn't have anything on my own hard drive that epitomized "bliss" so I stole him from these guys... he is kinda cute!
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I know that I totally suck lately as a blogger. I keep saying I'm going to write more and I mean to, because there is SO MUCH I WANT TO WRITE ABOUT! And I still want to shake things up and "go there"...but I get so distracted by everything else going on that I don't know where to begin. Then today something wonderful happened...
I FINALLY got a letter from Meaghan! It was wonderful and heartbreaking and thrilling and frustrating and awe-inspiring all that the same time. I miss her so much...but I love her so much more and I am so very proud of my beautiful daughter. This one letter means the world to me! I knew she was OK but it's been the longest I've gone without talking to Meaghan since she came to live with us more than two years ago. Even when she was in college we would text, phone or send messages via email and Facebook. So hearing absolutely nothing has been hard, to say the least!
She's tired. She's worn down, empty, feeling defeated and exhausted, but she's pushing on. She knows the first 4-5 weeks the TI's intentionally rip the kids down and then they spend the last 4 weeks building them back up so that they are on top of the world and feeling better about themselves than ever!
Meaghan said that one of the things she's having the most trouble with is trying to keep from laughing in the TI's face when they get up in her face and start yelling at her. To be honest I'm really surprised she hasn't already! She went on to say that she loves the physical aspect of it and how challenging it is (oh how I wish I had some of that stamina and willpower!) but she's getting tired of all the other girls in her flight, there are 47 of them, bitching and complaining, moaning and groaning about everything. She says when they sit there and cry and complain through the drills that she just pushes on and screams. That's my girl!
I'll try to scan the letter in a little later as she told me I could share it with you guys if I wanted to. That is, if I can figure out why the scanner isn't communicating with the computer. It's never done this before and I'm at a total loss as to why it's just started doing it this week. There have been some other documents I've needed to scan in and it just won't work! Grrrrrr.
However, it will be the ONLY one I'm going to share publicly (by sharing the actual letter itself, via scanning in and displaying on the blog), regardless of whether she gives me permission to share any more or not. I'll keep everyone up to date on what's going on, but very selfishly I want to keep the rest of this story - her story, to myself and my family.
There is so much other stuff...potentially GOOD stuff going on right now and I want so badly to share it with you guys, but we've decided to keep a couple of things very close to the vest. Ya'll know what a big mouth I have, so you know that this is really hard for me. I also know that none of this may transpire and even if it doesn't, we'll be OK. I know we may have to muck through more mud and slime, but we'll do it together, as a family...the way it should be.
Finally, thanks for putting up with me and keeping me strong, and helping me stand upright when all I want to do sometimes is fall over and not get back up again. I've been such a total flake lately and I'm so consistently inconsistent that it's a miracle anyone reads this drivel at all any more.
I've said this before, but I'll say it again - even though it's been uttered previously, it hasn't lost any of the heartfelt sentiment I say it with...
Our little family that inhabits the walls of this virtual asylum doesn't have a lot right now, but what we have in the way of friends and those who surround us with love, prayers and friendship makes us wealthy beyond measure. We are so very blessed and for that, I am eternally grateful...grateful for each and everyone of you who have reached out in one way or another to us. Perhaps you will never know how much it means to us and how much it matters. Thank you.
Now that I've said all that, I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor and go up and click the button that says Praying For Anissa on my upper left sidebar. I don't know how many of you are aware, but this incredible woman, Anissa Mayhew, suffered a stroke on Tuesday afternoon. She is incredible and totally full of awesomesauce...so much so that I can't really touch on how great she is without writing a book. She's touched so many lives with her candid chronicle of living with a child with cancer...a child, Peyton, who has now been happily been cancer-free for an entire year! She's witty and brilliant and just a really wonderful woman. You might know her from her former blog, Hope4Peyton, or her other merry troupe of colorful bloggers, Aiming Low. Or you just might have heard about her via the Twittersphere. Either way, could you take a second to click that button and go offer a couple of words of encouragement, support, or prayer to her family? And if you feel led to, I know they could use a donation right now, either in the form of a gift card, or via paypal. Information on how to do that is available via the site that button links to.
