Thursday, May 13, 2010

The Princess Guide: Inspiration Doesn't Come Cheap....

What inspires you??

What makes you want to be a different, better person?

How often does that "inspiration" cost more than you really want to give?

Tonight I was just thinking that I really wanted to be inspired to write something amazing that would inspire YOU in return. Something that would encourage you to get out there and do something incredible.

But as I look back over the last few days, I'm not coming up with anything like that. We've kinda had a rough few days around here.

My Step-father, Milton, is in the hospital in Midland. I'm not sure at what point you say someone is on life support, but I think he's there. He's on a vent, a feeding tube, a central line. He's sedated. Has pneumonia. One lung is 50% full of fluid. The other is 30%. Physically, I can't be there. I have no way of solving this problem. BUT I can pray. And pray I do.

In a completely unrelated situation, I've heard in the last 48 hours about two 3rd-grade friends who are being bullied at school. Two very sweet, very precious girls. Girls can be so mean. But 3rd-grade girls, when they're just learning independence and free-thinking.... I don't know if that's it or not. But I can tell you, 9-year-old girls can be downright mean. And maybe the reason that's so dangerous is that 9-year-old girls aren't ready to be on the receiving end of that. The one side has no idea how damaging they are. And the other side has no real tools for dealing with it.

YIKES.

Both of these situations have pretty much taken over my thoughts -- both in completely different ways. And guess what? Both inspire me.

The situation with Milton is different than what we went through with my Mom, but it's also the same. With Milton, there is hope for a recovery. With Mom, not so much. But much of the vocabulary is the same.

Ventilator. I remember the morning M'Lys woke me up with a phone call asking if we should put Mom on a vent. I remember the drive to Lubbock. All 9 hours of it.

Feeding tube. That's the one that got me. I remember so very clearly the day they began giving Mom "nutrition" -- the fact that she wasn't going to eat on her own again. Never again would she sneak bites from someone else's plate.

And while we're praying so hard for Milton's recovery, it brings back the flood of memories from when Mom passed away. And yes, it's a reminder of how much we've lost. And how I need to keep working to make the world a better place.

And the situation at school... Just a reminder that no matter how much things change, they stay the same. It's a different era. This generation of iPods and Wii's is completely different from our generation. But girls are girls -- and their actions and words can be just as painful.

And boy, does that inspire me. You can ask my Abbie-girl. We've had a LOT of dialogue about bullying and taking up for your friends and all sorts of things in the last 24 hours.

Again, I'm inspired to make the world a different place. And starting with my very own 9-year-old seems like a pretty good place.

So what inspires you? And what do you plan to do about it?

How 'bout you share that with us? Or better yet, hop on over to my Bucket Blog and share it with my Bucket Buddies. We're still short on comments over there.

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