Recalled beef, West Nile and the threat of rain?

I plan on enjoying the holiday weekend anyway — hope you do, too!

Fifteen years ago today, I was the victim of an armed robbery.  I worked as a bank teller, and a young man jumped the counter, pointed a gun at each of my coworkers and me, and then took off.  On his way out the door he turned and fired, and the bullet went into the wall next to me. 

He was caught almost immediately.  It took much longer for my coworkers and me to feel normal again. 

Feeling like a victim is not fun.  It takes a little time, but it’s far better to feel like a survivor. 

Survivors have learned things like:

• Always tell people you love them.  Whoever they are, if you love them, make sure they know it.
• If you want to be happy, be happy.  It really is a choice, and today is worthy of being a good one.
• Enjoy dreaming about the future, but live the hell out of today.  Don’t leave leftovers.
• You’ll feel better if you help someone else feel better.  I don’t know how that works, but it’s true.  I bet it’s magic.
• Don’t spend so much time planning something that you forget to do it.

 It just all boils down to “Live Today”.  Today is a good day, if only you decide it is.  You deserve a bunch of fabulous days.  Please go have them. 

 Whatever your situation, don’t be a victim.  Be a survivor. 

I wrote a post the other day that I almost didn’t publish because it mentioned my daughter’s disabilities, if only in passing.  It wasn’t that I’m embarrassed in any way by her, in fact quite the opposite.  She is amazing.  But I’ll get to that.

I almost didn’t post it because sometimes people squirm when they see or hear about a disability.  It’s uncomfortable.  You don’t know where to look if someone is disfigured, if someone is different you’re not sure if you should say something or pretend you don’t see.  I know, it happens to all of us, right?

My friend Art Blanchet commented on that post and what he noticed was the bit about my daughter’s disability.  Everyone else kind of let that slide, and it wasn’t the main point of the post anyway.  But Art knew, and that was the part that got to him.

My Tall One has OCD, ADHD and Trichotillomania, which is shortened to “trich” (say “trick”) by those who are familiar with it.

You may know OCD, that’s Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and if you saw the movie As Good As it Gets or watch Monk, then you know a little about it.  Tall One has a nearly opposite form, she’s no neat freak.  She has taught me to let go of the little things.  It really does not matter how messy her room is … if I avoid looking in there. 

ADHD is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  She doesn’t quite bounce off walls like the boys with ADHD do, but her mind is EVERYWHERE.  I think this is a big plus, and I think it will work to her advantage in her future.  She has an extremely high IQ (yes, I’m proud, and scared) and she thinks of things that others just don’t see.  Whatever she chooses to do in the future, she is going to be among the best.  I have no doubt about it, not at all.  I tell her she’s hard to take as a child, but she’s going to be an amazing adult.  (And after we had her, I could not believe that other people would willingly have more than one child.  I know now that she is simply not like other kids.)

The Trich is the hard one.  She pulls her hair.  Nobody understands this, and I won’t pretend that I do either.  It’s soothing for her.  She doesn’t even know she’s doing it a lot of the time.  Well, thankfully she is on medication for her OCD that works on the Trich as well.  There is NO medication especially for Trich, we just got a lucky side effect.  [Update: Tall One has taken herself off her medication since the time this was written, and is still doing VERY well.]  But when she hits a growth spurt, her medication no longer works.  She pulls her hair.  Sometimes it’s just a little and you wouldn’t know.  But when she hit puberty, she pulled it all.  She looked like she had cancer. 

People stopped us on the street and said they’d pray for us.  I always felt kind of uncomfortable, she wasn’t sick.  I would try to explain, but it just confused people.  She had an extremely difficult year at school.  This girl has been tested in fire and come out the other side with a smile on her face.  She knows who her true friends are.  She knows she has an inner strength that can get her through anything. I am hopeful that she’s reached full height and that this is over, but if not … we can handle it.

She just read this post and approved it for publication, as long as I tell you she has long, beautiful hair again.  She does, it’s gorgeous. [Update: She now has long, beautiful hair of any color she desires because I am just thankful she has hair, and color is fun.  Blue and fuchsia have been recent favorites. ]

She is one of the bravest people I have ever met.  I am so proud to be her Mom.  I know that some of the difficult things I’ve been through in my own life have only been to toughen me up enough to be able to fight for her rights.  There are sometimes people who don’t understand, and who can be hurtful.  We understand that this is usually just out of fear, but it doesn’t make it easier to take.

We have been blessed that most of the most of the people around us have been very understanding.  If anyone ever has a question, Tall One or I would be happy to talk about it.

There is no shame here.  God made her the way she is, and she is perfect.

Art, I DO write with my head held high.  And my Tall One lives her life that way.  I probably learned it from her.

Randy Moss’ “First Annual Links for Learning Weekend Golf Extravaganza” was held at Sleepy Hollow Country Club in Hurricane over the weekend.

I had the special privilege of being offered a Media pass by Jason Keeling of A Better West Virginia. Being asked to take pictures is about one of the most wonderful things in the world. A kindly “real” photographer joked with me about my little Canon digital. For the proper effect, he said, I should be looking through the viewfinder … which I don’t even think it has. With all apologies to Randy Moss and his friends … I felt a little “stalkerazzi” but thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Jason will likely give you a very official report of the day over at A Better West Virginia, so I feel comfortable telling you here in the Scoop what it was like to just BE there.

Randy Moss is NICE. He didn’t seem to mind taking the time to have a chat or even to pose for a couple pictures. I even overheard him later being complimented about the event, and his answer was a quiet, “Nah man, it’s about the kids.” He is trying to make West Virginia a better place to grow up, and I can’t help but love him for it.

Also on hand were former Marshall Head Football Coach Bob Pruitt, Jason Williams of the Miami Heat, Kevin Pittsnogle of the Albuquerque Thunderbirds, Chad Pennington of the New York Jets and a lot of happy locals. It did my heart good to see so many people enjoying themselves and coming together for a good cause.

Sleepy Hollow has a beautiful course and in spite of the threat of showers, the day was perfect. The people who played got to meet some of West Virginia’s sports heroes and enjoy a relaxing day for a good cause. It just doesn’t get much better than that.

(There are many more pictures in my Flickr account if you’d like to browse through.)

Made from 352 individual pieces of glass and measuring about 10 feet tall and six feet wide, this sculpture by Dale Chihuly is located in The C. Fred Edwards Conservatory of the Huntington Museum of Art.

Surrounded by beautiful plants, the glass looks almost as if it has grown in place. Even on an overcast day (as it was on my visit) the glass seems vibrant and alive. I’ve been told that it’s best viewed at night, when it’s lit. Yes, I may have to go back for that.

The sculpture sits in the middle of a beautiful koi pond — which I thought was a perfect way to keep it out of arm’s reach without detracting from it’s beauty. The Tower really looks like a huge exotic plant and the fish add a living element to enhance the illusion.

This video features little pieces of the whole. I think the details are amazing.