Well, my aspiration to have my lightheartedly warm and funny blog up and running took a detour. Since my last blog at the beginning of Summer, I had a handful of events turn my plans upside down. But hey, isn't that what life is all about; having to adapt to change?! So what exactly happened that turned my blissful blogging plan into an absolutely blank page blog? First, my work sprung into warp speed like it does every summer. I work at a very large airconditioning and heating company and DUH, also live in the hot, sweltering and humid South! So needless to say Summer hits and the work goes crazy at my business. That means no life for about 4 months straight because I am just trying to eat, breathe and sleep while trying to make some quality time for my kids!
Secondly, I got severely sick. I normally don't like sharing extremely private experiences with everyone and that includes having Type II Diabetes but if I'm going to publicly blog, then mums not the word. I was in the hospital and out of work for about two weeks. Diabetic Acidketodosis was my unwelcomed bedside friend and it was a horrible experience. I had to have an overhaul of my Diabetic medications, take an insulin out, add some new ones in but most importantly, per my physicians, STRESS was causing me to have a physical breakdown. S-T-R-E-S-S! I remember my doctor's exact words, "What is going on in your life? You need to examine what is causing your stress levels and either take them out or figure out how to cope with them in a different manner". Well, well, well . . . there is one decidedly HUGE factor that causes me stress. And that my friends is my livelihood. My job, my 24-hours on call, after 5pm even on weekends I have to work just to keep up with the paperwok and compliance job!!! I am in charge of Safety, Health and Environment for the company's San Antonio division for crying out loud and I can't even keep myself in good working order!!! My job is stressful and demanding but I already knew this. Now my doctors are telling me I must choose either to be healthy by a complete lifestyle change or somehow cope with work that will never be stress-less!!!! WHAT?! So where to begin? Well this major eye opener became a catalyst along with a couple of other events that affected ones near and dear to my heart. The spotlight to my path was about to finally shine.
About 2 months after coming back to work I had a co-worker whose son had to have brain surgery due to a melanoma found behind the ear. I wondered at that time how I could help because there were no words of comfort that would do. This co-worker's son had to have surgery to remove the mass and it would either cause facial paralysis or complete hearing loss on that side. Like I have done a dozen times before for my fellow co-workers that needed resources or a network of helping hands . . . I organized a BBQ benefit. As I was putting this event together I received even more heartbreaking news. My very close friend in our HR department, had gone in for a routine female check and was diagnosed with Breast Cancer AND Kidney Cancer. I was shocked beyond belief. All of this was happening so fast and to so many loved ones and I had no clue how to really make a difference in their lives.
I went on to organize a double benefit fundraiser and our company, friends and family of the company/employees and even vendors helped make our efforts profitable enough to make a big difference during their operations. My close friend completed her masectomy 2 weeks ago and she has such strong faith that my efforts seem shameless. In 2 more weeks she will be starting her iv chemotherapy and it will last for 18 weeks! I am trying to be strong for her and help keep her spirits up, this is especially important when she starts her treatments. As she and I sat talking in her office before her official leave, the subject of having meaningful work in our lives had us all fired up! Here we both sat working in corporate USA making decent money, getting eaten alive physically, emotionally and spiritually for work that didn't really make a damn bit of difference except to pad the pocket of the CEO who has to be transported between our offices and the airport in a limo! Sorry people, trying to keep ill feelings down at this point but do you see where I am going?!
That day she and I decided that we want our hard work, dedication and talents to make a difference . . . a gigantic difference! We decided to form our own non-profit organization in our local community (San Antonio) to help reach out and make a POSITIVE impact on lives out there, all across the U.S. We want to connect with people that have had, are and will be struggling with the same issues we had: breast cancer, gynecological cancer, cancers in general, diabetes, financial hardships to pay medical bills - even WITH our good insurance!
So please stay with us through our journey to begin our dreams! We will be keeping you informed on every step into starting our non-profit, creating new pages and links off of my blog. It is scary but change always is. The consequences of inaction however,are even scarier! We are excited! Our calling has come a knocking and we are ready to answer it!
.JPG)
