Save the Grandmas, Save the World!

Thank you all for your patience while I totaled up the Blogging for Betty site hits, comments, facebook friends and followers.  I had every intention of posting this blog on Monday, but I forgot that I'd have a crap load to do that day since my LASIK surgery was the next day. 

I will post later with a full blow-by-blow of the LASIK procedure, as the surgery details seem to be a popular topic of conversation lately.  Bottom line, I am seeing 20/15 less than 24 hours after LASIK.  If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is. 

Back to our charitable donation totals!  Your efforts really paid off for the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure.  Thanks to all of you, we raised $78.84!  Quite a bit more than I thought, but that's a great thing! :)  And, just to make it a solid round number (our accountant likes those!), I'll chip in a little extra and make it $80! 

Once again, my faithful readers surprise and amaze me!  The donation will be made today to 3-Day Walk for the Cure and, since every little bit helps, I hope to do this again next year.  Save the Grandmas!

Blogging for Betty: The Grand Finale

WARNING: This may be a tearjerker.

First, I want to start by saying thank you to all of you who became Facebook friends w/ this blog, "liked" this blog and commented on this blog for the past month+ of Growing on Goofy's 1st charitable endeavor: Blogging for Betty.  It means the world to me and my family that so many people care.

I struggled for most of this event, trying to figure out how to best sum it up.  How do you sum up the life and influence of one of the central figures in your life?  Well, my conclusion is...you don't! 

Anyone who has lost a grandparent, especially a same-sex grandparent who was a central figure in your life, knows how difficult it is.  You feel as though part, if not all, of your childhood dies with them.  And even though it's usually inevitable that your grandparents pass away before you, it still sucks.  I hesitate to say that it's worse when the death is unexpected (you can't say goodbye) or unpreventable (horrible diseases like cancer) than it is when old age simply claims them, but it's safe to say it's different. 

Our family experienced both ends of the spectrum.  One grandmother came out of brain surgery awake and talking, only to pass shortly after.  The other, of course, fought for over a year to rid her body of cancer, and ultimately lost that fight. 

I'd like to sum up this Blogging for Betty event by writing about how my life has changed since her passing. 
Yesterday, my sister and I realized that when she gets engaged/married, when either of us have kids, basically any major future life event...there will be no grandma to call.  No grandma to get advice from about crazy bridesmaids, your kids, your marriage, your LIFE.  Kristin and I were fortunate to always have "Grandma 911" when we were younger.  "Grandma 911" is when we kids got frustrated with our parents "not listening to/understanding" us, we could always call Grandma, and she would listen/understand and give advice accordingly (whether we asked for it or liked it, or not.  More often...not. :))  So, to the grandparents of our future children, I'd like to say, STAY HEALTHY.  I want my kids to have a Grandma 911 too. :) 

Little things are different too...not always sad things.  I pay more attention to rainbows and butterflies.  I trust my instincts more often.  I'm closer to my mom and other female relatives now.  I cry easier...but only because I have everything I want...and I appreciate it so much more now that I know what it's like to have the people and things you love taken away.

Like I said, you can't sum up the life of someone like Grandma Betty.  You can't close the door on her death as if it's just another chapter.  But what you can do is remember that her spirit, and the spirits of all the grandmas that have gone before her, remain alive, even if only in our hearts. 

I'm counting all site hits, friend requests and comments through the end of today, what would have been Grandma's 72nd birthday.  I will try to post the end result, which will be donated to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure, by the beginning of next week.  Thank you all again, for everything.

Blogging For Betty

As many of you know, my beloved Grandma Betty recently lost her battle with Stage 4 breast cancer.  I hesitate to even say that she "lost," because there was no way to win, despite her best efforts...and I don't think Grandma Betty ever lost anything in her life! ;)  She was a wonderful woman who was many things to many people, and she IS missed.

Now, before I continue to wax poetic, let me get straight to the point.  I am tired of watching the people I love die and not being able to do a damn thing about it.  SICK. OF. IT!

I have a lot of wonderful, talented friends doing great things for charity.  Lindsay over at Peace, Love and French Fries is one.  It dawned on me during one of my many "highway hypnosis" moments that I'm not helpless and it is about time I step up to the plate and do everything I can to fight. 

This is where Blogging for Betty comes in.

I will continue to blog, as I normally do (not all soapbox rants about the many evils of cancer and death, I promise!) but with one major change.

Starting today, April 19th, 2010 and continuing until June 24th, 2010, I will be donating $.01 for every blog hit (for technologically-challenged, that means every time someone clicks on this blog), $0.25 for every comment you leave on the blog, $0.50 for every Facebook Fan of Growing on Goofy, and $1.00 for every Growing on Goofy follower (see the box on the right for how to join). 

The money generated from Blogging for Betty will be donated to a team walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day For the Cure. 

Please remember, you don't have to be a computer nerd to join us in this initiative.  You don't even have to have a Facebook account.  Tell your friends via email, if that's how you want to do it, just SPREAD THE WORD. 

Even one click on this website makes a difference...and to prove that point, I am putting all my friends on blast.  I know you're out there and I FULLY EXPECT each and every one of you to at least come check out this blog.  I don't care if you find it offensive, silly or just plain stupid.  I don't care if you don't care.  I don't care if you have no interest in ever reading this blog again...just do it once.  Or else Grandma Betty will haunt you.  And those of you who knew her...you know there might be some truth to that! :)