Friday Tidings

We hear it all the time—don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. It’s the Type A mantra that I know all too well. It took on new meaning for JJ, a young woman I met as she waited to see her oncologist team. She told me her cancer came on like a wildfire—making reference to the massive fires consuming Eastern Washington.   Looking back she admits she missed some symptoms. After treatment failed, her doctors offered some trial therapies. JJ decided to lay her cards down and push away from the table. If the game was nearly up, why keep taking chances that tomorrow will be better—especially while you have today? JJ purposely didn’t ask how much time she had left, or what she faced. She had today and was living life on purpose. Her new mission was to thank every person who’d been part of her life.   She’d come in today to thank the medical team for their efforts. She wanted them to remember her smiling face. Even though JJ was young, I su...

Every time I visit the gritty city, I look for someone special. One time it was a homeless vet with a sign that said, “Look, I’m a man not a monster".  Another time it was an older woman dispensing cheerful morning greetings to all the walking commuters as she peddled cheap newspapers. This time it was Sally. Sally’s daily route takes her down dark alleys—long after paying customers go home. Each night she loads restaurant leftovers into her old dependable hatchback. Seeing a man with vacant eyes slumped in a doorway, she offers a sandwich. Hope flickers in his rummy eyes. Smiling at him, she drives away. She takes her nightly bounty to the Salvation Army mission where she carefully parcels every last morsel into take-out containers. Mornings and late afternoons, she walks the streets—handing out hope.  No one knows Sally’s story, but what she cares about most is her daily route. She says she doesn’t have money to give away, but she has lots of time. T...

Dana’s pregnancy was exciting to follow—from the earliest baby-bump pictures all the way to the arrival of her firstborn—Aria, a perfectly beautiful baby girl. Dressed in pink with a ribbon-adorned headband, Aria instantly captured the hearts of her mom, dad CJ, and adoring family and friends.   I loved the picture-post updates of this precious baby with her luminously expressive eyes. At Aria’s two-month check-up, the doctors became concerned about her small size and poor muscle tone. Tests, specialists, and tense waiting followed. Just a couple weeks later, the doctors confirmed the worst news—she had Type 1 spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)—a terminal disease with no cure. Aria’s grandma Veda describes SMA as a children’s Lou Gehrig’s disease. As horrible and daunting as that sounds, this family treasures each day they have with Aria and are sharing her story to raise awareness about SMA—the genetic disorder that claims the live...

Thanks to social media, millions are fully aware of poor Cecil the lion’s demise. News reports, blogs, and demonstrators said it all. But the bigger story was missed.    And it’s vastly more important than Cecil. It’s about Cecil’s homeland and the suffering people living in Zimbabwe. Robert Mugabe Photo by Sgt. Jeremy Lock (USAF) The story goes way back to 1980 when Robert Mugabe became president. A country that was once the proud breadbasket of southern Africa became one the poorest nations in the world.  In less than 30 years Mugabe destroyed the economy. With 90% of his population unemployed and a national inflation rate of 250 million percent, the utter hopelessness caused 2 million people to flee. "Demonstration against Mugabe" Photo by TwoWings Besides economic disaster, Mugabe unleashed horrific brutalities on his people. He’s been blamed for the bloody massacre of over 20,000 people of the Ndebele tribe...