The Best Letter Ever.

I wanted to share a very sweet story tonight on the blog.

A few weeks ago, Don Corrigan and I teamed up for an event at the Washington, MO Library. The two of us gave a joint presentation about tornadoes and it was a very nice evening, but by far the best moment of the night came before our speech.

I was approached by a woman named KyLee who handed me an envelope. Inside was a letter about her son Billy. The letter touched me so deeply, I wanted to share it here.

The full text is below:

Earlier this year my family and I attended Washington’s Family Reading Night. We were introduced to your book by you, Lily and Tara. Both of my boys were enthralled with the book and especially Lily. My eldest son, Billy (5 yrs), not only loved the book, but truly tried to grasp the concept of what the book was conveying. We read it every night for nearly 2 months. One night he asked me, “Mom, can we go to Joplin? I would like to give the people my piggy bank to help them.” After fighting back tears of pride and joy at my little boy’s giant heart I told him, “Absolutely.”

In May my sister-in-laws and I worked out a weekend for them to take the boys for a weekend of fun with their aunts. They happen to live near Joplin. I asked them if they would be willing to take part of a day and drive over to Joplin for Billy. He wanted to see the city and give his money to someone. They agreed. Unfortunately, he was unable to make his donation as they were unable to locate Red Cross or another similar organization. He was truly upset that he couldn’t hand his money to someone that could help him help Joplin. He came home from the weekend happy to have been able to see Joplin in its state of reconstruction. He was also confused and ready to learn more about the memorials his aunts had taken him to see. When he came home he asked me to find someone he could give his money to for Joplin.

I have looked online and found many places I could donate online. I could print the receipt for my donation and let him have it as proof of his generosity. I feel that the idea of what he wanted to do for Joplin would not be as meaningful to him in this fashion. He truly would like to hand the money to a person that he knows will give it to the people in Joplin. I believe that the act of handing his money to a person will be able to make this generous moment last a lifetime.

I read about the Tornadoes in MO program coming to our library and that you were going to attend. I felt this was the perfect situation for him to be able to hand his piggy bank to a person. I truly hope you will be able to accept this donation in person for him so that this truly heartfelt idea can become a permanent positive feeling of truly helping others in his own way.

I would like to thank you for writing this book. Your book is proof of how powerful words can truly be. Your book is proof of the power of reading. I do not know if you set out to try and shape people’s lives with your book. I will tell you that whether or not you intended to shape lives with this book, you have done exactly that with my son. I am thankful for your contribution to the personal growth of my son.
Sometimes the work that goes into writing and promoting books can seem overwhelming and even somewhat futile. But letters like this one make it all worth it. So much love and effort–between Tara, myself, Nick the illustrator, the staff at Reedy Press, Chris and Dawn at the Missouri Press Association, my writing group and others–went into the creation of Lily: A True Story of Courage and the Joplin Tornado. Billy’s letter reminded me why I wanted to write this book in the first place and gave me motivation to continue to work on children’s stories.
Billy’s generosity, his caring mother and this beautiful letter will always have a special place in my heart.
Thank you Billy for such a lovely dose of inspiration!

Bike to Work Challenge Update

Well the first week of September is done, so that means that I have LESS than one month to go in my five month bike to work challenge!

It’s crazy how time flies but so far it’s gone well. I have not skipped a single day EXCEPT those times I’ve spent dog sitting (shout out to my pals Ahi, Rocky, Denali, Dallas, Katie, Mrs. Padmore, Riley and, of course, Sadie and Elsa!). I love taking care of dogs but dog sitting definitely disrupts my routine and I just don’t have my marbles together enough to plot out a bike route from anywhere but home. So, I drove on those days, and, ah, the luxury of it! Radio! Leather seats! Climate control! So lovely. 

But that does not mean I will give up. After all, the Zoo wide official bike to work through the month of September challenge is upon us, giving me even more motivation to get out there and ride!

Here are my stats so far:

Miles ridden on the bike: About 165 so far

Times I’ve filled up the gas tank in my car: Four. And that includes trips on my days off to exotic locales like Springfield, Missouri. (Full disclosure–my boyfriend drives me around a lot. Just being honest).

Worst rides: In May we had a couple of 45 degree mornings that were pretty rough. Also, a few weeks ago it was just absolutely pouring down rain. It was not thundering, just raining, and so, if you recall the rules of the challenge, I still had to ride. I got absolutely soaked. My shoes and socks were soaked, my backpack was soaked, and the brand new book I brought in my backpack was soaked. Awful. I also came down with a cold two weeks ago on one of the hottest days of the summer thus far. After feeling terrible all day, pedaling that bike up Wells was no easy feat. I just had to keep repeating “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…” to make it through.

Best Rides: I’ve had LOTS of best rides. I think I most enjoy riding home after working late nights til 7:30. I really like riding home at dusk when the cicadas are singing and the sun is setting. It is just so peaceful and a really nice end to the day.

Three weeks to go before the five months are complete! So you know what they say, just gotta keep putting the pedal to the, uh, road?

Labor Day Weekend Recap

Happy rainy post-Labor Day Weekend Tuesday!

(that so does not sound fun.)

For me, Labor Day meant a full weekend of work at the Zoo, of course.

Here are a few highlights:

Shocked myself on hot wire for the first time.

Yep. It finally happened. I’ve been oh so careful to avoid this fate each and every day, yet all this time knowing that eventually it would be inevitable. This weekend I put my hand right on the hot wire in the hyena yard. While holding a metal lock in my other hand, I might add. I heard the loud “pop!” before I felt the shock. 7200 kv. Who needs coffee with a wake up like that?!

Sadie cheetah killed and ate a squirrel.

I swear I turned my back on this cheetah for one minute when she suddenly and quite silently, killed and began to eat a squirrel. Poor squirrel. Just doing its thing, hanging out in Missouri, when BAM! A Cheetah! Totally unexpected, I’m sure.

My lovely little dog’s name is also Sadie, so when I texted my family to tell them about this event the following conversation ensued:

Me: Sadie cheetah just killed and ate a squirrel.

My dad: Well, keep her outside then.

Guess he missed the imperative word there, “cheetah.” Don’t worry, Dad, I kept her outside…

Despite her little “snack” Sadie proceeded to clean up all of her meat the next morning. She’s a girl after my own heart.

Had a wonderful friend visit from NYC.

My college roomie was in the Lou for the weekend! I haven’t had the opportunity to see her in over a year and a half, so it was wonderful to catch up.

Since she lives in the Big Apple, I knew I had my work cut out for me to show off St. Louis, especially since I was working and couldn’t really play tour guide all day.

BUT she got to experience…The Arch, The City Museum, Schlafly’s, Ted Drewes, Creve Coeur Park, Tower Grove Park, Forest Park and the holy wonder that is Khao Soi from Fork and Stix.

Not a bad list, I’d say. Plus we did what all good girlfriends/college roommates do, that is, talk, talk, talk constantly (no gossiping, I swear!).

All in all, not a bad Labor Day, despite its sad lack of lake and bbq action.

And in other good news it is now officially September which is MY BIRTHDAY MONTH, so obviously exciting and most likely a time for fabulous weather!

Happy September everyone! Enjoy.

this is why i'm hot.

Well, because the heat index in the old lou is about 105 degrees, for starters…

For real. I am sitting here in my apartment and I have the air conditioning on (a rare occurrence) and it is set on 67 degrees yet the temperature in here is 85. Perhaps it is broken. But actually I just think it’s just pretty darn hot outside. 

But I don’t care. It’s supposed to be! It is August after all, people. Even if the grocery aisles are already filled with pumpkin beer and scare crows…it’s still summer dangit!!! So, bring on the heat. 

Weather worries aside, these last few weeks have been, well, sort of depressing.

It started with the death of Robin Williams. I usually don’t get too upset about celebrity deaths (because I’m both cold and heartless, fyi), but for some reason this one really got to me. I think that it is probably because he was such a part of my generation’s childhood. Mrs. Doubtfire is the first movie I can actually recall bringing me to tears because I was laughing so hard. I will really miss that brilliant man.

Then, there’s Ferguson. Oh, Ferguson. What is there to say really? So much, I suppose. I can see, feel and understand the anger on both sides. My opinion? There is no excuse for shooting a teenager six times. And there is no excuse for setting fire and destroying people’s businesses. I just hope we can all come to the point of peaceful discussion, conversation, justice and change. And I hope that St. Louis can move forward as a better city from all of this. Despite the negative attention focused on our little corner of the country these past weeks I maintain that St. Louis still is a great place to live.

If those tragedies were not enough, we lost two beautiful souls from our Zoo this week. Willie Anteater and Claire Cheetah. Losing an animal is and always will be the worst part of my job. There’s still a hole in my heart and a hollow gap in my daily routine without these two animals. I will always remember how very special they were.

image

(*The lovely, Claire)

Sound fun, yet?

Oh, it only gets better. A few days ago I also came down with a stupid, summer cold. Who gets a cold in the summer? Ugh. Terrible times.

So, the dog days have been, um, let’s just say a little less than stellar.

But I’ll just take a note from my dear friend, Bing, here and count my blessings while I can.

After all, it is still summer. So by golly I’m going to eat some watermelon, roast some corn on the cob and embrace this heat wave!

It’s not so bad. I hear the social media world has discovered a pretty efficient way to cool off…

*check out the pic of our dear Wilie below :(