by Heather Plett | Sep 15, 2009 | Uncategorized
She’s thirteen. She’s beautiful. (Aren’t ya diggin’ the blonde highlights, compliments of her mom?) And she’s going for knee surgery today.
My athletic daughter tore her ACL (ligament) in her knee playing soccer and now she has to have it repaired. Considering she was quite a worrier as a child, she is amazingly relaxed this morning. And…wow – I wish I had her determination and drive! Our physiotherapist friend taught her an exercise routine to do for pre-hab (so she’d heal faster) and she has been faithfully going to the YMCA to work out, often running up to 4 miles on a damaged knee. She is SO determined that soon she’ll be back to playing soccer, and volleyball, and basketball, and… well, you get the picture. I marvel at her dedication/focus and look forward to watching where it takes her in the future.
Feel free to send up prayers on her behalf. I expect there will be some impatience in the weeks to come when she’s unable to do the things she loves most.
Update: She is home and in good spirits. The nurses were rather impressed with how athletic/strong/resilient she is and so they sent her home early (tonight instead of tomorrow morning). The pain is manageable and we hope and pray for a speedy recovery so that she can return to the sports that she so loves.
by Heather Plett | Sep 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
I’ll admit it – I’m seriously in the dark when it comes to understanding the recession and I’m even MORE in the dark about the debate around public health care in the U.S. Being a Canadian who has enjoyed easy access to public health care all my life, and never having had to worry about whether we could pay the medical bills (even when finances are tight), I am completely puzzled with how much fear and objection there is to what’s being proposed in the U.S. Sure our system’s not PERFECT, but at least I didn’t have to re-mortgage the house when I ended up in the hospital for three weeks before finally giving birth to our stillborn son Matthew.
For the most part, I can simply ignore the news stories around some of these issues, because it barely touches my life. But when I read stories like this one on a blog I’ve been frequenting lately (written by a Twitter friend), suddenly the stories begin to feel a little closer to home. It just doesn’t make any sense how a wealthy country could deny its own people access to equitable health care.
There’s nothing I can do about fixing the system, but there is one small thing I CAN do for a family that’s struggling to survive in the face of huge obstacles. I can buy cookies!
I grew up with some of those similar challenges (with incredible parents who struggled to stay afloat financially), so I know what kind of toll poverty can take on a family. When I saw that this family was selling cookies to try to pay the bills, I did the only thing I could – I ORDERED COOKIES! And it turns out that Priority Post delivers cookies across international borders!
You can do it too… order cookies! I barely got a chance to sample the ones that showed up in my house, because my three daughters devoured them like ravenous dogs (you’d think we didn’t feed them! yeesh!), but the crumbs they left at the bottom of the box sure tasted yummy.
Just to tempt you further, here’s a bonus picture of a Tootsie Roll eating a cookie! (Tootsie Roll costume not included with your order. You’d have to pay me BIG bucks to make another one of THOSE.)
by Heather Plett | Sep 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
by Heather Plett | Sep 2, 2009 | Uncategorized
When I read Jamie’s prompt for Wishcasting Wednesday (what do you wish to begin), I thought… oh my! That’s an easy one! There are so many things I want to begin!
The truth is, I’m a little addicted to change. I get restless if things stay static too long. I need something new in my life on a regular basis – a new adventure, a new job, a new project, a new creative art form to sink my teeth into, a new friendship – or I get bored and restless and a little bit ornery. (Just ask my husband about the look on my face when I get that “new project energy”.) That doesn’t mean I can’t stick with things (I’ve been married 16 years and a mom for 13 and don’t need to change either of those things!), it just means I need a few changes on a regular basis to balance the things that stay the same.
I come by it honestly – my mom lived on the same farm for 30 years, but she desperately needed SOMETHING to change, so she re-arranged the furniture nearly every week. We never knew for sure where the couch was going to be. Now that she’s off the farm, it’s not the furniture that’s moving, it’s HER. She’s barely in the same location 2 weeks in a row. It’s not unusual for her to call me from Wisconsin when I didn’t even know she’d left town.
But let’s get back to me… when I hear the word “beginnings”, I get a little giddy. The problem is, I get so excited about new stuff that I don’t always have enough focus to concentrate on one thing at a time. Right now, for example, I’m contemplating about a half dozen courses or workshops I’d like to take this Fall, but chances are I’ll get so flustered with trying to make the choice that I’ll suddenly realize that it’s a week too late to register for any of them.
So it’s time to focus my beginnings. This week, I want to begin (or at least register for) the following:
1. An art course of some kind. I think I’ve picked the one I want, now I just have to get around to registering.
2. Some way of learning more about the practical side of building my own consulting/writing business. I haven’t figured out exactly where I’ll start, but it could be a book, an e-course, or a local workshop. (Any suggestions?)
3. Find some serious focus time on how to move www.whatareyougivingaway.com from a lovely community space to something that generates an income for me. I know what I want to do – now I just have to spend time getting it done!
That’s more than enough for now. All the rest can wait!
p.s. Check out my guest this week at www.whatareyougivingaway.com. Some of you will know him!
by Heather Plett | Aug 26, 2009 | Uncategorized
If I can, I try to make a pilgrimage to my dad’s grave about once a year or so. (You can see a video of last year’s pilgrimage here.) For the past month, I’ve been feeling a real longing to make the trek across the prairie, so I did it yesterday.
Those of you who knew him will understand why I could only bring a raucous bouquet of wild flowers in a re-purposed bottle – Dad would have it no other way.
To read a little more about the journey I took, you can read about it at my other site.
As a bonus shot, here’s a sunflower field I just couldn’t resist photographing along the way. Did you know that, even on an overcast day like yesterday, the sunflowers still turn their faces toward the sun? Wish I could remember to do the same.
by Heather Plett | Aug 24, 2009 | Uncategorized
This week certainly had its emotional ups and downs, but thankfully it ended on an “up” (in more ways than one). Today was a really good day. I spoke in church and, the truth is, though it’s a lot of work and usually comes with some stress, I really do enjoy doing public speaking.
After church, because we were the only ones around and I wasn’t in the mood to cook, Maddy and I went on a little lunch date.
And then after lunch, we had to head out to the other end of the city to watch soccer. Julie’s team made it into the championship game for the tournament they were in, and they WON in a dramatic, exciting game (against a strong team that beat them 3-0 just the day before).
In the evening, because it was one of the most beautiful days we’ve had all summer, Marcel and I headed to the Forks with my sister and his brother (who happen to be married to each other) to enjoy drinks on a patio while our children all hung out together at their house.
Add all of that fun to some of the really wonderful, vulnerable, refreshing conversations I’ve been having with some people (in person and online) and it all ended up being quite a fulfilling, inspiring week after all was said and done. No, not all of the issues from my last post have been worked out, but a different perspective certainly is a good thing.
My athletic daughter tore her ACL (ligament) in her knee playing soccer and now she has to have it repaired. Considering she was quite a worrier as a child, she is amazingly relaxed this morning. And…wow – I wish I had her determination and drive! Our physiotherapist friend taught her an exercise routine to do for pre-hab (so she’d heal faster) and she has been faithfully going to the YMCA to work out, often running up to 4 miles on a damaged knee. She is SO determined that soon she’ll be back to playing soccer, and volleyball, and basketball, and… well, you get the picture. I marvel at her dedication/focus and look forward to watching where it takes her in the future.
