Faith, and Karma, Restored.

 We have had a crappy week. Sunday, while cleaning and working on my 40 DOHI, I broke my toe on the Millennium Falcon in Jay's room. The Dark Side really had it out for me. Sunday night, I washed our new sheets and blankets. Isn't climbing into new, clean sheets the BEST feeling?? Now, imagine that feeling getting thrown out the window because at 2am your two year old climbs into bed with you and throws up all over. Awesome.
Then Mike went to the ATM before work to withdraw money and the little slot opened up, closed, and shot out a receipt w/ our new deducted balance. Yeah...no money came out.

Are you keeping up w/ my whole lousy week scenario? Truly. Crappy.

So on Tuesday, I decided THAT'S. IT. I'm realigning the moons or stars, or fixing whatever wrongs I've committed because I can't take anymore. For those of you that know us, we believe that birthdays are for giving back and our kids ask their friends to bring donations to their birthday parties instead of gifts. It's a simple, easy way for us to teach our kids the importance of giving. For Jay's birthday, he chose Galisano Children's Hospital as his charity. So on Tuesday, I decided that after I picked up Jay from school, we were going to the hospital to drop off the money. Better Karma here we come!

I prepped Jay on the way that Strong is a really big place and that we might not be able to meet anyone and might just drop off the money and go. He was fine with that and confided in me on the walk in that he was "pretty nervous" to be going to the hospital. I realized he had never been to a hospital before (or at least remembered being in one)! So we sat and talked for a while about hospitals and how the job of everyone there is to help the patients feel better. We made our way to the information desk in the lobby and let them know that we wanted to drop off a donation for Children's. We filled out the tax form and were getting ready to go when the man working at the desk asked how much we were donating. We were so proud to tell him that we had $190 from a bunch of six year olds!

We were asked to wait and then he informed us that the two women in charge of giving to Children's Hospital, Heather and Wendy, were upstairs if we wanted to meet them. What a treat!

Seeing Children's Hospital was such an amazing experience for Jay, and for me. Jay was so enthralled with the artwork on the walls, ceilings and floors, and how bright and fun it was there. I was overcome with the return of all of the raw emotions that I went through six years ago. Seeing the babies that looked just like my little man took me back to the club that I HATED having a membership to. Old habits easily returned; you remember to make eye contact with family members up and down the hall, where everyone says telepathically to each other, "I know." You remember to try to block out the babies' cries that you hear in the rooms. You remember, you remember, you remember.

Heather told J that Pat McGonigle from NBC was there filming a segment for the upcoming telethon and that we could meet him. J walked confidently into the play room and had no problem starting conversations ("Hey, is that a boom mike?"). Pat was SO wonderful to us, he sat right down and did an impromptu interview for the telethon w/ Jay about why he was there and how he collected his donations. I was so excited for J to be surrounded by all of the magic of tv that I forgot to take pictures! Luckily, the telethon to raise money for the hospital will be on in early June; look for my sweet boy when you are calling in w/ your own donation!

As we were leaving, Heather took J down to the PICU and explained to him that the entire PICU wing was built with donations and that is where his money will go. As I stood there crying I was SO grateful that J was able to have such a memorable experience. They gave J a stuffed dragon that he named Magic and we were on our way.

It's amazing when we sit back and think about what happened. All we are trying to do is teach our kids to give to those in need and leave this world a bit better than when we arrived. Galisano Children's Hospital went out of their way to make a lifelong memory for our family. We wanted to give to them and instead, they gave so much to us.

Tuesday night, I sat in awe watching my sweet boy play with "Magic" and telling his sister all about our adventure. I reminisced about the scared, young family we used to be with a 5 pound premie that couldn't breathe or eat on his own. I'm so amazed that our life has come full circle and we are now on the giving end and not the receiving. But after visiting the hospital, I realized that we will never stop receiving. Their dedication and selfless acts of kindness make sure of that.