The Power of We, Blog Action Day

Ok I am arriving late to the game today, I almost scrapped it and did not post for Blog Action Day but this post has been running around in my head since I re-upped for the even this year so it had to find it's place.

For me the power of we was recently gifted to me from an unlikely source, Facebook.  Yes you read that correctly, as social media site gave me and my Monkey Baby (she is now 8 and no longer a baby but IS very similar to a guy called Curious George) a feeling of being lifted up, when life had trampled us a bit.  I discovered that we are all truly part of a village.  That it takes a "we" to get through this crazy thing called life with all it's ups and it's downs as we navigate our paths. 

After the first week of school, said Monkey Baby said she needed to talk to me.  This talk ended up with tears and her telling me of how she is made fun of in school for basically every reason that makes her the completely awesome, unique Monkey Baby that our little corner of the world has come to love.  She was hurt to her core.  And with her story and her words so in fact was I as her Mama.  I couldn't fix it.  I could not protect her heart from this very sad right of passage of growing up.  We talked and talked.  We came up with ideas and things for her to do, try, and plans for what happens next. 

                                                                   (Monkey Baby)

Once my yummy was in bed, I felt soooo lost.  I felt like I was stumbling alone through this tunnel called parenthood.  So I turned, as do many of us, to FB and I told our little tale, threw it out to the masses.  What happened over the next few days was a source of healing and comfort to my Mama's heart.  Messages from people I knew casually and those I had known for what seems like ever.  Everyone unique in their approach and content.  Some had stories of self, some were cheering her on to keep being her, some sent songs, some sent quotes.  But it was what has come to be known as an outpouring.  And most of the people sending messages to my little lady did not know her personally.  But they pulled together to support and in effect protect my little person from the sad fact of bullying.  I felt like these people pulled together and built us a safety net.  They reach out to me and her and showed that there is more and that we in our little corner of the world are NOT alone.  I read these messages to her and played her the songs and she smiled and said "I think they like me."  I still believe these messages pulled her through.  They buoyed her bouncy spirit and put her back onto her track in this world of blazing trails not just following them.

I do believe that we are a village.  That despite miles and the busyness that our lives now hold that we are there for each other when the chips are down.  I think we lose sight and it gets eclipsed in the fast of our world now.  But I know that the power of we is still here and is very strong!!  And I am grateful for my crazy little village of people watching our for me and my family. 

Food...Blog Action Day

This year's Blog Action Day topic really hits home hard for me on sooooo many levels!  I feel like I truly spend most of my breathing hours tracking down, healthy, organic, identifiable ingredient made, foods for my family.  In our little part of the universe, there isn't a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's to pop into.  The local supermarkets carry tiny bits of organic and non-scary foods, but if I want variety or produce that doesn't look like all it's nutritional value has already passed away 2 weeks ago, I have to hunt.  If I want convenience foods that aren't going to kill us all and the environment by their mere existence, I must read, contemplate, search, seek...and what I find in one market one week doesn't mean it will be restocked or they will continue to carry it in future weeks so it never ever ends.

I have joined buying clubs, CSA's, I visit my farmers markets...but I work at it.  I read.  I call.  I plot.  I ask friends with extras.  I am EXHAUSTED!!

And what I think mostly is that I have the time to do this.  I have the resources (mostly) to make some of this happen.  But why should I be in an elite group when it comes to food?   Why should my financial comfort be the only reason I can provide these things for my family? 

I am upset (this is the most understated thing I have probably ever said) that my government, when they choose to "help" folks who need a boost with food give them preservatives and sugar and chemicals and say here families have a big ole helping of obesity to go with your life woes.  Here are some funds but you can only spend it on scary foods of unidentifiable origins and don't get sick from a lifetime of ingesting it because then you must know you are sooooo on your own.  My lovely government also sets the standards that the school my children attend must follow for what is an acceptable meal to serve these growing minds and bodies.  Our future is handed chicken nuggets, pizza, and something that is unrecognizable as past vegetation, and said do well.  Show us great test scores on our mandated testing or you won't get your funding...but here have this...and don't be sluggish or ill...just perform...  Lunch wasn't enough in our school they now give free "breakfast" to all the students (this should tell you about our economic situation that our whole school gets it!).  This breakfast is poptarts, prepackaged muffins, goldfish crackers, and a string cheese stick with a side of strawberry, chocolate, or the least popular white milk.  My concern here is for a good lot of these kids these school meals are in fact their "healthiest" meal of the day.  This may very well be their one and only meal for a day.  And this is what they get.  Yet government officials on high seem completely confounded that Diabetes and obesity are plaguing our children.  They set the standard!!  They say this is all ok because it checks off boxes in their corrupt you scratch my back I will scratch yours with big business and big farming... 

Food is a hot topic for me.  I love food.  My best memories usually are of a meal shared or food tasted and filed away and remembered.  My favorite time is time in the kitchen to potter and create.  I melt to hear my kids and husband say "We want to stay home and eat.  Your food is better."  My family chooses my kitchen over ANY restaurant!!  What does that say about the world and it's possibilities?  If we put efforts into our food, our love, our time, our thoughts, it pays HUGE dividends in our families well being, health, and our communication as a unit is strengthened all by a simple meal of good foods shared at our little table!  So I encourage any who are tired, who are thinking the fight might be being lost that it absolutely is not!!  Your footprint is huge by beginning in your own little space with your own little unit!  Every time you share your thoughts, your meals, your table you influence others in small ways to try more to do more.  Do not be afraid to share.  Do not be afraid to speak.  Do not be afraid to say no thank you to things that will do you harm. 

Food is and can be beautiful.  Food should be healthy and not chemical.  Food should be easy.  Food should nourish us body and soul.  Food should not poison.  Food should unite and make us all stronger and better.  So passionate foodies keep fighting the fight.  It begins in your homes with your little people.  They are listening and watching!!  You make a much bigger difference than you would ever believe so EAT WELL!!!!

Blog Action Day

Today I am participating in blog action day .(http://blogactionday.org/js/44280dede48df5973ef0c929aedfd8b915e77b66 )

This year's topic is poverty. Unfortunately, I think this topic hits close to home today as my dear friend's husband falls prey to nationwide "downsizing" and "cutbacks". And it makes me scared for us all how very close to the edge we all live. How one medical bill or one car repair or one major anything can send us all on this path. As a nation, I think we think of poverty as homelessness and starvation but I think we need to step back and see those are symptoms and even final stages of the disease so to speak. That it starts where most of us are right now, juggling bills and obligations and wrestling rising fuel, heating, and grocery costs. How poverty is being gifted to us as the trickle down from the nation's decisions. And with this trickle down, we find ourselves treading water just a little harder trying to keep afloat and all our balls in the air. Hoping that someone sees reason and eases up the vice on our budgets so that we can climb a few rungs higher than that bottom line. I still find it so very difficult to belive that in 2008 that we can still have such widespread poverty. That we have hunger and homelessness in this huge land of plenty. That we have money for guns, and wars, and bailouts but not for homes, and health, and food. So my hope that on this big blog action day, is that the folks in charge and about to be elected to be in charge, step back and look at what they have done and are doing and reach out to help those that really truly need it... and refocus their priorities on their own...