Words of #encouragement today via @lisacongdon. Who has lifted you up lately? I’m #HereForYou. ❤️💙💛 #werise #liftothersup #animalfriends #robertingersoll pic.twitter.com/O7zrSZbCYq
— Rader Ward Foundation (@RaderWardFound) October 25, 2019
grief support: let there be mom
One of my areas of focus for the foundation is grief support. With last month being Suicide Prevention Month and this one Bullying Prevention Month, my recent posts have weighed more heavily in the suicide prevention and mental health directions.
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However, Let There Be Mom (Instagram: @let_there_be_mom) is an organization that has perfected grief support in the Greenville area, and support of living as well. Today is their big fundraiser, Dine Out for Mom. 100 local restaurants are donating a percentage of today’s sales (including purchases of gift cards!) to support Let There Be Mom. Go out there and eat something! Restaurant list is available on their website (link in their profile). Also there’s a raffle: grand prize is gift cards to every participating restaurant! You can enter the raffle in person or online! Raffle registration is available through Nov. 3, 2019. Drawing on Nov. 5.
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LTBM serves families in which a parent (not just mom) has been diagnosed with a life-threatening illness. 10 years ago, my dear friend lost her husband to ALS. LTBM was right there for them, helping preserve Brian’s legacy for her and the kids. They do photo shoots, make heirloom quilts, have friends and family members write their memories down in letters, make thumbprint pendants, and so many other thoughtful things during such a painful time of life for a family. They serve the family while the parent is alive and continue after the loss.
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I started my day at @crave_coffee_ and then picked up lunch and take-out dinner at @anitas_simpsonville, where I ordered my favorite, Mexican coffee, aka the “Mug of Happiness!” I had one while I waited and they made me another one to go!
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#lettherebemom #dineoutformom #fundraiser #raffle #yeahTHATgreenville #griefsupport #HereForYou #cravecoffee #anitassimpsonville #mugofhappiness #wowivehadalotofcoffee
inclusion: celebrate unity day!
#UnityDay2019! We unite for kindness, acceptance and inclusion. Together, we can create a world without bullying! 🧡 It’s Unity Day, the Week of Inclusion, and Bullying Prevention Month. There’s so much each of us can do to promote kindness, acceptance, and inclusion. I am #HereForYou!
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#UnityDay #worldwithoutbullying #kindness #acceptance #inclusion #stompoutbullying #weekofinclusion #bullyingpreventionmonth #suicideprevention
war on bullying: Mallory's Army
Mario Monday: circle of friends
It’s Mario Monday, and also the STOMP Out Bullying Week of Inclusion! Use the hashtag #HereForYou to let your friends and followers know they have your support and that you’re someone to reach out to if they ever need to talk.
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Here are my new Hallmark 2019 Keepsake Ornaments! The Piranha Plant is a limited edition, but there are still some available online if you act fast. Princess Peach, Bowser, and Mario are available in stores and online as well.
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family time at the fair!
We had a fun weekend in Columbia! Friday night we went to the South Carolina State Fair. We don’t do this every year, but William and I have been going to the fair together since college.
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We rode the swings, a Ferris wheel (one of three), and the sky ride that takes you from one side of the fairgrounds to the other. We ate a funnel cake, teriyaki chicken on a stick, and deep fried cookie dough and Reese’s cups.
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The sand sculpture (photo 2) was impressive! We saw giant produce and fancy chickens and bunnies. If you go, definitely spend some time in the buildings with the exhibits. There’s so much more to the fair than the food and rides!
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We even took a couple of selfies with the Rocket. Folks have been meeting their friends there for 50 years now!
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Saturday we saw USC and Florida play some football in the remnants of tropical storm Nestor. The Gamecocks fought to the end, and kept Florida in check for the first three quarters, but couldn’t quite pull off the win. Still a fantastic weekend!
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resource: stopbullying.gov
grant helps expand suicide prevention efforts
remembering Megan Meier
observe international pronouns day!
In memory of Adelaide Grace Cervantes, 2015-2019
"There are moments that the words don't reach. There is suffering too terrible to name. You hold your child as tight as you can and push away the unimaginable. The moments when you're in so deep it feels easier to just swim down. The Hamiltons move uptown and learn to live with the unimaginable."
— Lin-Manuel Miranda, It's Quiet Uptown, from Hamilton
I've written about "It's Quiet Uptown" before. It's a song that reaches so deeply into the horror of losing a child, it's hard to believe it sprung from Lin-Manuel Miranda's imagination and empathy rather than real-life experience. He has kids now but his first wasn't even born yet when he wrote this song.
The show premiered off Broadway early in 2015 and the cast recording was released that year. I don't recall exactly when our family became aware of it. But by early 2017, the desire to see Hamilton dictated our Spring Break plans. With our oldest getting ready to graduate high school, it would be the last time for a while we'd all be on the same break schedule.
We planned a trip to Chicago, which has its own production of Hamilton. Family favorite actor Wayne Brady, of Whose Line Is It Anyway, was finishing up a short run as Aaron Burr, a fact that pushed us over the edge. We got tickets for his penultimate performance.
In April 2017, the four of us started off a memorable week in Chicago finally seeing this much anticipated show. We ate deep dish pizza. We figured out how to go where we wanted on the "L." We saw the giant mirrored outdoor sculpture lovingly called "the bean." We went to Navy Pier and took a water taxi over to the museums. We checked out the view from 360Chicago at the top of the John Hancock Center, one of the tallest buildings in the city. We had a great time! And two months later, Rader took his own life. Unimaginable.
My husband and I have been back to Chicago two more times to see Hamilton. We've not yet been to NYC. So actor Miguel Cervantes is 'our' Alexander Hamilton. He originated the role in Chicago and played it all three times we went. He's been singing that song almost daily for years now. Once to our whole family. And William and I clung to one another's hands and wept while he sang it two more times to us, as if we and our unimaginable loss were alone in the theater.
This past weekend, he and his wife, Kelly, lost their daughter, Adelaide Grace, to a neurodegenerative disorder that struck her in infancy. She was almost four years old. She's also survived by her brother, Jackson, age 7. Miguel has stepped away from the role of Hamilton for an unspecified period of time, but said in a statement to People magazine that he would return soon.
There are moments that the words don't reach. I have nothing profound to say to Miguel and the Cervantes family as they are going through the unimaginable. Other than, I see you. I feel for you. As your work helped me in the darkness of my loss, I hope you, too, find yourself enveloped in a grace too powerful to name.
Kelly writes a beautiful blog called Inchstones, available here.
Mario Monday: #obtainthefungus 🍄
Here’s the color version from Instagram.
anti-bullying resource: PACER NBPC
how to improve college mental health care?
today is national coming out day!
celebrate world mental health day
world mental health day is Oct. 10
Get ready for World Mental Health Day tomorrow! This year's theme is mental health promotion and suicide prevention.
Click to follow World Mental Health Day on Facebook and Twitter (@WMHDay). Visit the website.
The WMHD Toolkit is a pdf file chock full of information. I really wanted to share it with you! Unfortunately, it's not a format easily viewable here. But you can download and see it: https://wfmh.global/wmhd2019-tools-and-tips/
cybersmile helps fight digital harassment
wearing blue for world day of bullying prevention
Today is World Day of Bullying Prevention! I’m wearing my blue shirt to show my solidarity with the STOMP Out Bullying campaign to put an end to bullying.
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It’s also Mario Monday, of course, so naturally I chose a Mario shirt! And I am showing off my Hallmark Limited Edition Piranha Plant keepsake ornament I scored during the Keepsake Ornament Debut Event on Saturday. (Thanks, @christineshallmarksc! #yeahTHATgreenville)
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@theofficialstompoutbullying
#worlddayofbullyingprevention #bullyingpreventionmonth #bullyingprevention #BlueUP #makebullyinghistory #stompoutbullying #mentalhealth #suicideprevention #MarioMonday #8bit #marioshirt #hallmarkornaments #hallmark #hallmarkkeepsakeornaments #christmas #piranhaplant