So what of the good news? The lifting one another up when we are unable to find the strength in ourselves? It seems to me, we have great power to alleviate, to spike our doubt and rampant cynicism with bursts of light.
We are the first generation online. Our voices carry. It is up to us to create a space for our children's children's children to not only feel safe but empowered, liberated, and if we can find it in ourselves, (I think we can! I think we can!) hopeful.
If we want to "write for ourselves" we should do that... in a diary. But as long as we're hitting the publish button we are writing for other people to read and even respond. We must remember that the blogosphere is not a collection of monologues but dialogues. That every time we go public with an idea or story we are inviting friends and also strangers to participate, respond, feel something.
Don't we then have a responsibility to those readers? To bring them up from time to time? In the words of George Orwell, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. But guess what? So is smiling at strangers and passing out goody bags of hope, stories where happy endings begin.
The other day I received the following comment on this post from a woman who recently posted her story on Portraits of an Economy. I wanted to share it because everything is going to be okay, you know?
I left my story for you awhile back. I wanted to share something else, some good news. The Man and I have been talking about getting married for years now. (We have been together 5 years now) But we have never been able to find the money for a proper wedding, and with the way things are going, its just not something we could do. So, we've been waiting until we could afford it.
Just a few weeks ago, we discovered I was pregnant. So, we realized it was finally time, and decided to just go to the courthouse and get it done.
Upon telling some of the friends we have been fortunate to make here, in this place-which is neither of our hometowns- they all banded together and are THROWING us a wedding.
Yes. I cry every time I think about it. It is just SO amazing. It's not a fancy ordeal, it's a simple backyard potluck style party this Saturday. Someone is making the cake, someone else is taking pictures, people are bringing food, and flowers and some have even offered to rip apart their OWN wedding dresses to make me one.
That these people, people we have only known for a few years, pulled together for us like this gives me such an awesome feeling, and I wanted to share that with you. Even without money, if you have good people around you, you are rich. And if we all hold together during this time, we will all be okay!
Flowers everywhere.
come on, get happy!Tell me a story about something good, a shiny penny moment in your day or weekend or week and I will pick one of you at random to win this incredible Christopher Collins Collection coat (an $800 value) c/o the designer which is so gorge I can't stand it:
Contest closes Wednesday at noon. Christopher Collins Collection available in these fine retailers. Thank you in advance for sharing pieces of your happiness with me and the Interwebs.
GGC
GGC
235 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 235 of 235 Newer› Newest»-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 235 of 235 Newer› Newest»While that coat is beautiful, I don't want it because it probably only fits tiny people and I'm a size 16 and totally not ashamed of it. My butt is the size that it is and I'm cool with it and I'd wear my size on the outside of my clothes or whatever if it made other people feel better. However, that's neither here nor there because this isn't a positive body image post - it's a positive people post.
I just want to say thanks for having people post positive stuff because it is so easy to get caught up in the negativity of it all. We just keep feeding this negativity monster and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger, so we feed it more and it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. If we keep feeding it, it's going to take over. Instead, we're going to throw these positivity bombs at it so we can shrink it down to a manageable size and be able to handle it another with the million other things we have to do in our very busy days. And if we need more positivity, we can borrow each others' and it'll be all good.
Thanks, Rebecca. I love it.
It's silly, but my little bit of daily happiness: I've stopped reading the paper and watching the news. I scan the headlines, so I'm not entirely an idiot, but never read the details. I've been a lot happier lately living with a little bit of ignorance.
In 2006 we lost our home in a fire, my husband was inside when it happened and he almost lost his life. But we did lose everything in it. Friends, family, and complete strangers started giving us anything you can imagine: clothes, money, furniture, kitchen appliances, food, gift cards, a shelter for abused women pitched in and gave us a fully decorated Christmas tree (the fire happened a few weeks before Christmas). We were so overwhelmed by the generosity of so many we wished there was a way to hug each and every one of them to thank them. There is still a lot of good people in this world.
I went to Austin this past week for SxSW, It was amazing and I had a great time, but the best part of my trip was coming home. I have a 3 year old and an 11 month old, and just seeing their faces light up when they saw me for the first time in almost a week made me remember that family is what makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. It's not the trips I get to take (even though that was the first trip I'd taken since my first born was...well, born) or the things that I own. My little boys are my heart and soul. I'm thankful for them, but I'm also thankful to realize this and cherish them.
This is taken from a recent post on my blog. I thought of it when you asked for our shiny pennies:
Princess Rachel
I went running around the lake today. I have been sick so it kind of kicked my you-know-what. But in a good way, partly because at 9 this morning it was already 60 degrees and sunny here where I live.
Part of my run takes me on this footbridge that goes across the water. The city is always having to paint over graffiti on the walls of this little footbridge; I guess since it drops down from the street, it’s an easy place to spray-paint and not be seen. Most of the stuff written is as tacky as you would imagine, the usual gang symbols and some dirty pictures and of course phone numbers with crazy offers - offers that I, as a 37 year old married woman, don’t even understand.
But today I saw this lone sentence that stood out from the rest. It was sort of away from all the other graffiti, out on it’s own. And it just said “Rachel is a princess.”
Aaawww.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m a romantic so I immediately thought this was really very sweet. Then I said to myself “Don’t be such a sap all the time!” and tried to imagine some scenario under which that could have been written so that it was mean-spirited and cold-hearted. But I couldn’t come up with one (I didn’t try too, too hard because I’m don’t really care that I’m a sap all the time) so I was back to thinking it was really sweet and great. I mean, whoever and wherever Rachel is, someone out there considers her a princess. So the world can’t be all that bad, can it?
Last Friday our tiny K-3 school on the wrong side of the tracks held a dinner/dance to raise money for our arts programs which have been annihilated by Arnold's budget. We have less than 280 students, but we sold almost 800 tickets. For two hours we were all a family ... eating together, laughing together, dancing together under the stars.
In a moment of abandon, I left the safety of the picnic bench and pulled one of my shy little girls to the dance floor with me. We held hands and jumped around to the music. I will never forget the look on little Lydia's face. She gazed up at me with sheer adoration and amazement as though she couldn't believe this was really happening. "I'm at school at night with my family and all my friends listening to a rock and roll band and dancing with my teacher!" I will never forget that little face and the love I saw there; it was one of those moments that, as a teacher, I know my students will remember always. Just a brief moment of shared sheer joy. I don't know how I am going to survive their departure in June, but I am thankful for each of these little moments with them and for all that their unconditional love has taught me.
A couple months ago when I was visiting a friend in a convalescent home, I had the great fortune to meet her roommate's husband, John.
John was visiting his wife of 64 years. For the past four years, he cared for Theresa alone at home while Alzheimer's caused her to slowly slip away from him. At Christmas, Theresa had a stroke, and he could no longer care for her. Since then, she has been in the convalescent home where John comes to sit by her side every day. It is the first time in their 64 years of marriage that John and Theresa have slept apart.
John suffers from congestive heart failure and prostate cancer and cannot stand for more a than a few moments without losing his breath, yet he makes the trip without fail every day to visit his wife who no longer recognizes him and does not respond to the soft words he speaks to her or the warmth of his hand enveloping hers.
John's kids tell him that he needs a break. "Dad, you don't need to go there every day. Mom doesn't even know you're there." His reply? "She might not know I'm there, but I know it and that's enough."
What more is there to say? The day I met John and heard him say those words, I was so moved that I cried all the way home. I now go a few times a week to visit John and Theresa as well as my friend, and their love continues to be a testament to me that there is still good in this world.
It is always such a huge emotional boost for me when I see people doing nice things. Doesn't matter if its on the news, someone tells me about it, or I see it first hand. Yesterday I got to witness this first hand.
The BF and I were driving home from work, and were almost home. There is a curvy hill we have to drive up to get to the street that will get us almost to our street in roughly a mile. There are houses along the curve, which are built pretty close to the street. The BF drives fast, so usually the curve is a blur.
As we were speeding up the curvy part, off to the right an elderly woman was sitting on a portion of her steps near her driveway. There was a thin black cane off to her right, and something about the awkward angle of her body and the way she was sitting -- torso facing the driveway, legs turned toward the right of the driveway and bent, her hands bracing her against the stone step, and body leaning gingerly forward -- that it seemed to me she had fallen.
Me: "Oh! Honey I think she fell!"
BF: "No, it looked to me like she was sitting there." (We have now sped past her house upwards.)
Me: "Hmm, maybe she was sitting. But it looked like she fell..."
BF: "Do you want me to turn around?"
Me: "Yes, please. We should at least double check and make sure."
So he turned into a driveway and turned around and as we were driving downhill and past the house -- someone else had stopped and was helping her up to her porch!
The BF and I were grinning and happy that we had made right the call in turning around, and to see that she was ok, and even happier to see someone else taking time to help a stranger too.
So, to the man who stopped to help an elderly lady who'd fallen down Thursday, March 19, 2009 in a suburb of Portland - You Rock!!!
Lying in the dark last night with my two little boys cuddled up in my bed. My four year old son reached up and began to trace the lines of my face. Moments later I heard him whisper in the dark "mommy you're beautiful".
I am so thankful this time around my husband will be home (and not deployed to Iraq) to be able to witness the birth of our baby.
The feelings of fluttering and movement in my belly brings me so much joy and peace, I feel so blessed to be able to have our beautiful blessing.
I fucking loved this post.
Within the last few weeks, my entire family's life has changed. My mum has been diagnosed with breast cancer, has had a lumpectomy and her lymph nodes removed, has been booked in for further surgery, is facing the likelihood of a mastectomy and is due to start chemotherapy and hormone therapy very soon.
My myspace status was "anti-cancer" and I've just changed it to "pro-life". Has a much better ring to it don't you think? :)
THANK YOU! Thank you for this post and for providing an outlet for all of these wonderful stories and the people that have written them.
This story has two glimmers of hope in it. Both regarding the same MN track team where I help coach sprinters. Last year I helped out as a volunteer coach, being it is my old high school with my old coaches it worked out really well. This year I actually am getting a little paycheck, which equates to about $1.62/hr. but it is very worth it! We have 136 girls on the team, about 20 or so who weren't able to pay the $125 fee for enrollment. We contacted the booster club (which is WAY behind on fundraising and no where near able to provide all that they would like) and they helped all of those girls out, paid each and every entry fee so another 20 girls can have an after school activity and get in shape and run their little butts off. Thinking about them, I felt guilty about my $1.62/hr. and thought I needed to give something back. That is where the second glimmer shines through. Our head coach, who is 40 and just got married this summer, found herself pregnant and due in the middle of the track season. This is a woman who has given everything for her track runners and the thought of interupting her season with a "silly kid" makes her upset and isn't exactly "excited" about this baby boy due in May (her words, not mine). I, being newly married and wanting a baby so bad it hurts, wanted to cheer her up. I knew that getting money from kids who couldn't even afford to be in the locker room much less afford new running shoes couldn't give very much so I left it up to them. I said at the beginnning of practice, when Morgan the head coach was gone, that I am going to leave an envelope in the coaches office, in the right drawer, anyone who can give anything to help buy Morgan a 'Burley' please just put whatever you can in the envelope, ABSOLUTELY NO PRESSURE. Even if it is $1, that is fine, but if everyone gave $1, we'd have $136 and I'll cover the difference. I had no idea what would come from it, but low and behold, at the end of the week, we had over $200. We had a few $5 bills and a few $10 bills, and as I counted the money I couldn't believe it. I am buying the Burley this weekend and we give it to her on Monday. Mind you, she hasn't even bought a crib yet, but if I can bring her a small glimmer of light for the amazing baby inside her, I think the whole team will feel that generosity and hard times can go hand in hand.
Thank you for your blog, I LOVE it!
i have just agreed to exchange surprise, homemade gifts with five of my friends, four of whom i haven't seen in years. it's joyful to think about making things with love for good, long-time friends. i am not much of a crafter, but i can't wait to get started!
It was warm enough today to play soccer outside and have a picnic lunch on the lawn, yet afterwards have a snowball fight with that final big pile of die hard snow!
Which I am pleased to say is now finally gone.
I agree with everything you have said Rebecca, why would we want to spread negativity during this awful time, why make people feel worse? I was thinking this through out yesterday after watching this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcJn5XlbSFk His voice carried over the boarder and that made for some very disappointed people. Over the past year I know a lot of Canadians have been so happy for the US, proud to be neighbours, almost like an American Envy! But that pride or envy gets lost in the negativity of that segment. We are not a Ridiculous Country, we have stood behind the US fighting a war that isn’t ours, sending our Husbands, Wives, Sons and Daughter, losing our loved ones, families making huge sacrifices to be a good neighbour. After years and years of fighting, we need to take a break to better our selves, so we can come back stronger and we get made fun of, put down. Saying that we do not have a smart culture, because we have RCMP’s who were red jackets and ride horses. That’s one police force. We have multiple, trust me if I commit a crime, a normal police officer in a cruiser in a regular uniform, is going to pay me a visit. Fox News has a large viewing audience and how many people are going to watch that, and they them selves start to think this way about Canada. I think it was irresponsible for them to air something so ignorant, especially when we just brought home 4 fallen solders. REBECCA- Just so you know, YOU are one of the flowers in this time of Negativity! That’s why I love the person you are and know there are so many more of you on the other side of the border! Lots of love your way!
My husband is a teacher and about to lose the job we moved down here for. We have no family and very few friends down here. I don't know what we're going to do or how we'll manage. I was feeling so overwhelmed with sadness, I thought I would drown in it. Then last week a friend who lives nearby, someone I met over the Internet when we were planning our weddings back in 2005, long before we ever even considered moving here, did the sweetest thing anyone's done for me in a long time. She came over and picked me up, took me downtown, bought me a fabulous dinner, and made me laugh all night.
I felt so refreshed, like an actual human again. And when I got home, our 21-month-old daughter ran up to me and hugged me. I looked at my husband and thought "You know what? 6 years, 5 moves, 4 jobs, 3 states, 2 sets of overbearing parents and 1 baby later we're still togther. We can survive this."
I hope someday I can pay my friend back for that dinner, because she gave me so much more than pasta and laughter that night.
I already commented once but had to share this extremely positive, heartwarming, funny news story with you. Its short: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29875894/
That's all.
My husband is a doctoral candidate, and he went on the job market this year.
He failed to get a job. Well, he didn't fail. The economy failed.
We've been investing in our future for three years, no jobs, just scraping by. I was crushed when I heard that it would be another year of cobbling together an income. And this coming year will be even harder, with a new baby and the economy the way it is.
I had to tell my mother that we would be staying in Illinois - jobless - for another year.
My mother offered to support us, using funds left for her by my late father.
Just offered. No questions. Just gave us enough money to live, without worry.
She said to me: "Your dad planned for this. Let me do it and don't worry. There is something wonderful waiting for you around the corner."
I am the luckiest woman in the world.
After a very hard day at work yesterday, I come home to find my little girl playing with my mother. She seems very involved in her play, until she looks up and sees me. She smiles and has the look of eternal happiness at the sight of me. All the crap of the day washes away and I find myself in Luna heaven! She'll be one next week. How fast she grows and how lucky I am!
Every day, just before sunset, an woman in her late 60s pushes her husband, in deteriorating health, in a wheelchair down the ramp into the AIDS memorial grove in Golden Gate park.
She places a towel on her shoulder to catch any drool, lifts him to standing, holds him, and dances him around the circle.
We should all be so lucky.
yesterday my 3 year old said, "mommy i want to marry you" so she went in her jewelry box and grabbed a plastic ring, took my hand and said, "with this ring, i thee wed" and she gave me a big kiss.
where she learns these things, i will never know. but it made me smile for the rest of the day.
(thank you for this post)
My shiny penny moment came the other night after bathtime. My sixteen month old has achondroplasia, the most common form of dwarfism. One of the characteristics of this type is very low muscle tone in babies, which he definitely has. Well, after his bath, he was inspired by the mobile over his change table, and with a little help from Mama, he stood for the first time! While most of his friends are now walking, this little moment of assisted standing reminded me that he is moving along at his own pace, and will eventually walk one day.
Oh, and when I started typing this, my husband came home and surprised me with a movie rental! He is notorious for renting unwatchable movies, so usually he doesn't pick. He said he was about to rent something that was "probably horrible" and then he saw a preview on the TV for Australia and remembered that I "liked that guy." He meant Hugh, and I do!
-Chelsea
I'm too late for the giveaway, but just wanted to comment that that coat is stunning! Unbelievably beautiful!
My first comment didn't post! Damn!
Summary:
People are good. They are amazing. There are times when you know exactly why someone might be mad at you, at the world, at their circumstances, and then they blow you away by their enthusiasm and desire to help others.
Just recently I looked around myself and thought, "I got my wish."
The person who I wanted to be my mentor is my mentor. I am no longer in a relationship that doesn't work. I am in school to do what I always knew I would do. And I am surrounded by and practically drowning in a mass of loving and supportive friends and family. And my best friend is finally happy.
Just like everyone else, I am struggling. But I got my wish.
I know the competition is over but I wanted to throw my pennies into the hat.
I'm schizophrenic. I first got diagnosed with an 'unknown psychotic disorder' when I was 9 after experiencing disturbing auditory and visual hallucinations for two years. People tend not to understand me or want to give me a chance after they hear what I have. Even though schizophrenia has nothing to do with split personalities or violent tendencies, media portrayal of it as a disorder that routinely displays both those things means people of all ages, young, old, middle aged.. Act like I'm some kind of monster that should be locked up or put down.
I was out with my friend (also schizophrenic, we met in hospital) and his boyfriend (they're 4 & 3 years older than me respectively..) about four weeks ago when this guy came up to me and said, "You go to X College, don't you?" I said yes, and he said "Me too! I keep seeing you around and chickening out of doing this.." And then he handed me a bit of paper with his number on it, grinned and ran away. I thought it was a joke but my friend convinced me to call the number, so I did and it was really him and he asked me to go out with him on the weekend.
That was my first shiny penny. I'm 17 and that was the first time in my life I ever got asked on a date.
On our second (=)) date my voices were playing up really badly and he asked what was wrong and I came clean. He asked what schizophrenia meant exactly and when I explained his response was, "Okay, well, tell me when they get loud and we'll stop talking a minute while you sort them out."
That was shiny penny number 2.. In my experience only other people with psychoses respond that way.. Except him.
He didn't call for three days after that but when I went to see my psychosis intervention nurse she said that her practice had gotten a call that morning from an 18 year old guy asking for advice on how to deal with a 'new friend' who had auditory hallucinations...
He called that afternoon to ask me out again.
^ Shiny penny 3.
He tried to take me to a movie.. But I will not, will not, will not be locked in a dark room with a bunch of strangers (some of my paranoia is controllable, this is not) so basically the second we stepped over the threshold of the ticket office I freaked out and said I had to get to an open space where nobody else was right away. He didn't even blink.. Just grabbed my hand and dragged me up all the escalators in the mall, out of the restaurant and into the castle gardens which is basically the most open space in the whole city. He said he was sorry for taking me there and that I just had to say if certain places made me uncomfortable and we'd leave right away.. I said open spaces make me feel happy.
He stole me after lessons finished the next day and drove me halfway to where I live - out of the city - and we had a picnic in the middle of a totally open field (freezing but awesome). And since then, we've been to 4 other open spaces.. Including the beach in the middle of March, to a stately home, to the Queen's pad (okay okay the public section of one of her back yards) and to a huge clearing at the edge of a woodland with my dog. And tomorrow, we're going to an open air rock showcase of unsigned bands. We're going to stand at the back and go to the castle gardens again after to get rid of 'crowd stress'.
I'm thankful he got the courage to give me his number, and I'm thankful for all the shiny pennies he keeps giving me.. Nearly enough to make a shiny pound. =]
Oh my goodness, JJ. Thank you so much for sharing your story! What beautiful, shiny pennies:)I hope you continue to collect many more. Thank you also for opening my eyes more to your disease. I wish you the best in all you do!
How incredibly inspiring your words are... I hope you all know how amazing you are!
My shiny penny moment has been getting to know more about a fantastic place called Canuck Place..... it’s a palliative care center for children suffering from terminal and serious sicknesses in the British Columbia area. After meeting an absolutely amazing family that has benefitted from this center I decided to tackle the Adventure Challenge (bike, kayak, run) and get donations to sponsor me in the event.... The shiny penny moment is the sincere words, encouragement and support I’ve received from my spreading the word about raising funds for this place... they have truly filled my heart.... It’s so encouraging to thing that in this world full of sadness, grief, loss and scariness that people will drop their guard, share their story with me and give what they can to this charity--- it touches me in a way no words can convey----- if you have a shiny penny or two to contribute to these kids--- Google it...check it out..sponsor me... or simply put up a positive thought or a prayer (if that is your thing) to these children that courageously suffer through these debilitating diseases...... I hope it lifts your heart as much as it has lifted mine!!!!
Rebecca,
To quote the wisdom of the movie Vanilla Sky "Just remember, the sweet is never as sweet without the sour, and I know sour".
I myself have had many "sweet" moments this week that I am incredibly thankful for. First and foremost, the fact I am surrounded by two beautiful, healthy children is reason enough to celebrate; however this afternoon I also just received my acceptance letter to the transfer college of my choice (this was also the only college I applied to- talk about putting all of my eggs into one basket!) I am ecstatic!
To put the icing on the cake I also JUST found out that my best friend is expecting a baby this fall, and I'm going to be in her wedding this summer. Life is truly good, and thank YOU for reminding us all to treasure the sweet moments as they come.
my shiny penny moment came last week for my break. i was placed for adoption as a baby and have recently re-connected with my bio-fam. i was able to meet my great grandma for the first time last week. she is 92 years old and suffering from alzheimer's. i went to meet her and she had no idea who i was, but she took my hand at one point and looked at me and said "i love you." of course, my eyes welled up with tears hearing this. i also met my grandpa this past week and went with my grandma to get a tattoo. the tattoo was in my birth mom's handwriting and it says "i carry your heart" from the e.e.cummings poem. the only thing i had from her for a long time was her handwriting in some letters she sent me. the tattoo just made perfect sense to me.
i guess the whole week was a shiny penny week! it was filled with lots of tears and lots of laughs.
What's going on with that coat? What's with the mummy-esque folds in the bodice? It looks like an Ace bandage wrapped round and round. And the sleeves are all twisted. Are they supposed to look like that? Anyone with any breasts at all would look ridiculous in it.
It is, however, a nice color.
Thank you for this post!!
Long time reader, first time commenter. I heart GGC and your Portraits of an Economy blog. Me and some of my friends are trying to do something positive in this economy - setting up amazon wishlists for some women's shelter's and organizations that are working with homeless and low income mamas. And we are running a health and hygiene donation drive in May..in SF Bay Area and San Diego (I read you were from SD so if you have any mama friends down there...). Don't you know that all mom's need tampons and diapers?
(New to the blogosphere, just testing the waters now. Does anyone know how to throw a "coming out party" in the blogosphere?)
Hey girl...
I want to quote you in this:
"If we want to "write for ourselves" we should do that... in a diary. But as long as we're hitting the publish button we are writing for other people to read and even respond. We must remember that the blogosphere is not a collection of monologues but dialogues. That every time we go public with an idea or story we are inviting friends and also strangers to participate, respond, feel something."
on my blog...and I just wanted to make sure you were cool with that!
Thanks so much...you rock.
My 8 month old son is currently in chemo. A couple of other mothers and patients were calling a particular drug "little red devil" and "the red beast". I wanted to clarify what was the right (slang) name to call it. I loved the answer the nurse gave me. She said she tries to stay away from negative names for the chemo. She told me one mother called it her "little bag of hope".
I loved this! It is so important to reframe our minds to find the postive in all situations!
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/babyscotty
To Kristin C.: saw your post. Please have your husband (and you) check out Kevin Trudeau's site for natural cures. It could very well help with your husband's propensity to cancer cells. Also, visit my site at www.myxango.com/turiaseigertodd for the best product to protect your cells from free radical breakdown. Cancer is most of the time a food related disease, like artificial sweetners and MSG. You're a nurse so I'm sure you've heard this. Just a thought. Hope you don't mind.
Post a Comment