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The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line®: The saving grace for every Thanksgiving chef
Have you ever thought to yourself, “Self, I sure do wish there was a 1-800 number I could call that’s staffed by experts and who could answer all my turkey cooking questions”? The Butterball Turkey Talk-Line® is the answer to your prayers.
Since 1981, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line®, open only in November and December, has answered more than 100,000 questions annually for all cooks in the United States and Canada. Just call 1-800-288-8372, email, or use the online chat function on their website and help is just seconds away. I suppose you could also tweet them, but that might take a little longer because they don’t have a dedicated Twitter account for the Talk-Line. On Thanksgiving, the Turkey Talk-Line® will be open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Turkey Talk-Line® is so popular that The West Wing, has a classic scene in which President Bartlet calls the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line® that you’ll get a kick out of.
Stephen Colbert, of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, also recently had some fun with the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line®.
Part 1:
Part 2:
If you enjoyed this post, check out some of my previous Thanksgiving posts:- Celebrate Thanksgiving with The West Wing
- Thanksgiving week gratitude list
- Thanksgiving Little Merry Sunshine style
- Thanksgiving gratitude list 2011
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Full Moon Restaurant: Where everyone receives a free Thanksgiving dinner
Do you dine at the Full Moon Restaurant?
I first discovered the Full Moon as a first year student at Lake Forest College in 1989 when an upperclassman friend introduced me to this wonderful 24-hour truck stop just north of campus. Since that time, the Full Moon has been my second favorite restaurant. Second only to Waffle House, but we don’t have them in Illinois. I digress.
I spent many late nights studying there sustained only by the super powers of their french fries. One of my best friends came out to me during one of those late night study sessions at the Full Moon; another had his college graduation party there.
The Full Moon is part of my soul. When I have out-of-town guests, I often take them there. I’m fancy like that.
One of the things I love about the Full Moon is the regulars. Yes, the Full Moon is a truck stop, but most of the waitresses – and yes, they’re all waitresses – have been there for more than a decade; some for 30 years. They call me honey and know what I like just like they do for their other regular customers, many of whom they call by name.
Being located directly outside Great Lakes Naval Station, they serve many members of the military and veterans. Anyone joining the Navy today goes through boot camp at Great Lakes and the Full Moon hosts many graduation dinners each week. The Full Moon’s commitment to the military also includes a 10% discount everyday with military identification.
Every Thanksgiving, rather than close their doors to give their staff a day off, the Full Moon opens their doors to anyone who needs a meal. For free. Starting at about 12:00 noon and going until the turkey runs out, the Full Moon offers free Thanksgiving dinners to everyone.
The free Thanksgiving Dinner includes turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and cranberry sauce. Soup, salad, dessert, and beverages are not included but can be ordered and paid for separately. Gratuities are also not included. I recommend tipping based on the regular value of the meal or what you’d pay for a meal at any nice restaurant.
The Full Moon has been offering free Thanksgiving dinners for 36 years, according to Karen, a waitress I spoke to who’s been working at the Full Moon for 34 years. The owners, John and Spiros Psihos, who are Greek immigrants, began this tradition as a way to say thank you and give back to the community that welcomed them with open arms. According to a 1988 Chicago Tribune article, serving the 1,500 to 2,500 people they serve each Thanksgiving costs about $10,000 to $12,000, which is obviously a lot more in today’s dollars.
Everyone is welcome, no matter their income. Reservations aren’t taken and lines wrap around the building as the day goes on. According to Karen, no one dilly-dallies, everyone is kind and patient, and the customers who can afford it are all very generous with their tips.
I recommend the Full Moon Restaurant year-round, but especially on Thanksgiving. Who knows, you might even run into me there tomorrow.
As I’ve recently discovered, this idea of restaurants giving people free meals isn’t limited to The Full Moon. The El Camino Restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky is serving Thanksgiving dinners to refugees from Syria, Iraq, Cuba, Somalia, and other countries. George’s Senate Coney Island Restaurant, owned by George Dimopoulos, in Northville, Michigan, is serving a free Thanksgiving dinner to all solo diners. The reason? Dimopoulos remembers being alone on Thanksgiving and believes no one should be alone.
What an incredible spirit of giving from these restauranteurs. Show them some love throughout the year by dining in their establishments and supporting their good deeds.
Did you enjoy this post? Here are some others you will like too.
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Hospital Waiting Room Etiquette 101
Two days ago my mom had gastric bypass surgery and I spent nine hours sitting in the hospital’s waiting room. Spending any time in a hospital waiting room while a loved one is in surgery is stressful at best and life altering when things don’t go as hoped. Everyone in the waiting room is on edge. They’re nervous their loved one won’t survive or that there will be some other problem.
Some people had large groups of families and friends with them, while others, like me, were there completely alone.
During my wait, I witnessed and experienced many people being less than considerate of others in the room, which shocked me. As far as I was concerned, we were all in the same boat and it was our job to be as kind and supportive of each other as possible. While we were all absorbed in our own crises, it took no effort to be considerate to others.
Therefore, I’ve developed a handy dandy guide to Hospital Waiting Room Etiquette. Please feel free to print it out and take it with you to pass around to offenders next time you’re stuck in a hospital waiting room.
1. Turn off the sound on all your electronic devices. Some people want to nap. Some want to work or read or just want to be alone with their thoughts. Respect that. Turn off the ringer on your phone, the sounds your device makes while you’re playing games, and type as silently as you can. Want to watch a movie or listen to music? Great. Use your earbuds. Waiting on a phone call? Keep your phone on vibrate. Just like in the movies, silence is golden.
2. You’re inside, so use your inside voices. In fact, you should talk quieter than that. If you’re sitting 30 feet from me, I should not be able to hear your conversation. If you’re going to be on the phone awhile, move to a corner, so your voice doesn’t carry so far.
3. Don’t complain about your wait time. There is ALWAYS someone within earshot who has been in the waiting room longer than you. On Monday, I was that person who had been there longer than almost anyone in the room. At about 4:00 p.m., a woman sitting maybe 10 feet from me kept taking phone calls, loudly complaining how she’d been in the waiting room since 11:00 a.m. and couldn’t believe things were going so slowly. The third or fourth time she did this, I looked right at her and said, “I’ve been here since 8:00 a.m.” She glared at me. I probably should have kept my mouth shut. Everyone in that room is stressed and exhausted. Just be considerate.
4. Don’t whine about how backed up the surgeon is. He’s doing surgery, not playing golf. The reason he’s backed up is because of issues that arose in earlier surgeries and he has to solve them. Just be considerate because you want doctors to address any surprises they discover when they open up your loved one too.
5. If the hospital requests you don’t eat in the waiting room, don’t do it. The hospital I was in had a no eating in the waiting room rule. I don’t know why they had that rule, but my gut tells me it’s because patients waiting to be called for pre-op prep were in the room too and it is impossible to know who is a patient who can’t eat and who’s a family member doing emotional eating.
6. Leave the volunteers alone. They aren’t there to get you coffee or improve the magazine selection. They also can’t make you copies or watch your kids. And believe it or not, they have no ability to make the surgeon operate faster.
7. Don’t bother the doctors when they come out to talk to families. When my mom’s surgeon came to speak to me, a woman interrupted us with some asinine question I’ve long forgotten. You don’t know what kind of news the doctor is delivering and you want respect when he’s speaking with you. Stay away.
8. Be respectful of people’s space. The room I was in was full of nooks and a variety of seating areas. There is no need to sit down immediately next to me when five feet away there are plenty of chairs for you and your hubby.
These may seem like a lot of etiquette tips, but it really all comes down to one thing: don’t be an asshole. When you follow that one simple guideline, everyone’s stressful day at the hospital is made just a little more pleasant. We’re all in this together.
Oh, my mom pulled through her surgery with flying colors.
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Story time with Brad Meltzer
When was the last time someone read you a bedtime story, complete with sound effects, jokes, and the story’s backstory? I’m guessing you were under 10 and that was probably a very long time ago. Do you remember how much you anticipated the story each night, even if you made your parents read the same story to you every single night?
For me, being read to as a kid was magical. My mom invented voices for the various characters in my books and my dad read me the same story no fewer than 9,768 times without complaining. He’d read me A Visit from St. Nicholas (aka Twas the Night Before Christmas) so many times by the time I was two, that one night he caught me reading it out loud to myself and turning the pages appropriately and became convinced that I was nothing short of a genius who could read before she could speak in complete sentences. It turned out that I’d simply memorized the story and couldn’t actually read yet. I’m still a genius though. But I digress. Being read to made me feel loved, comforted, and safe. Much like Sheldon Cooper feels when someone sings Soft Kitty to him. It was probably my favorite part the day, not that it meant I actually went to sleep after the story.
A dad and his son enjoying Story Time with Brad Meltzer. Photo posted on Brad Meltzer’s Facebook page by a fan and used with permission of Brad Meltzer. Last night, all of those feelings of warmth, comfort, safety, and love came flooding back when New York Times Best-Selling Author Brad Meltzer took to Facebook to read the world a bedtime story in a live broadcast and over 5,000 people joined in (the video has been viewed more than 33,000 times in the first 24 hours). Knowing Brad the way I do, I had high expectations for story time with Brad and, let me tell you, he did not disappoint.
At 7:00 p.m. CT, I sat in front of my computer in my pi’s with all of Brad children’s books open in front of me, waiting for Brad to announce his choice for story time. After a brief introduction, Brad read, I turned the pages, and I was a kid all over again. Story time was over by 7:20 p.m. and just like when I was little, I didn’t go to bed when it was over.
Brad read I am Amelia Earhart, which kicked off his Ordinary People Change the World series of children’s books in January 2014. He told jokes, was self-deprecating, interacted with fans via shout-outs, and told us the backstory of his children’s series.
Two kids watching Story Time with Brad Meltzer. Photo posted on Brad Meltzer’s Facebook page by a fan and used with permission of Brad Meltzer. The series, which has grown to seven books and counting, was created because he was shopping for his daughter and could only find clothing with princesses on them. Brad’s immediate thought was that fictional princesses were not the heroes he wanted his daughter to focus on. From all of his historical research, he knew of far better heroes so he asked a friend to draw a cartoon of Amelia Earhart. Brad took that cartoon, put it on a t-shirt and wrote “I am Amelia Earhart” on the front and “I know no bounds” on the back. The shirt was a hit. His daughter loved it. His wife loved it. Friends loved it. Brad began telling the stories of Amelia Earhart and his kids were hooked. And a series of books was born.
Based upon the comments and pictures on Brad’s Facebook page, fans were rivited and are eagerly anticipating the next story time with Brad. There are rumors that Brad will be reading I am Abraham Lincoln next on a date still to be determined. Follow Brad on Facebook or Twitter to learn about his upcoming events and book releases, including future story times.
Check out last night’s story time with Brad.
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Happy birthday Dave!
Happy birthday to Dave, the greatest brother in the world! I love being your big sister and having you as my best friend.
Please join me wishing Dave a very happy birthday in the comments.
Want to know more about Dave? Check out these posts:
- Dad, can I have herpes?, April 2009
- Happy birthday Dave!, October 2009
- Happy birthday Dave!, October 2010
- October 5: International Dave Gardner Day, October 2011
- My favorite name is Sister, October 2014
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Do you enjoy reading Little Merry Sunshine? Of course you do.
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Like every Friday night of my childhood, I hung out with Sue Ellen Ewing, um, Linda Gray
If you’re a Gen Xer, you grew up on a Friday night of Dukes of Hazzard, Dallas, and Falcon Crest, even if it was against your parents’ wishes or explicit instructions. I was lucky. My parents would often go out on Friday evenings, ironically to church group functions, leaving Dave and me with a babysitter who was only too willing to let us sit in front of the television well past our bedtimes.
Dave usually went to bed after the Dukes of Hazzard (he was about 6, after all) but I stayed up to follow the antics of JR, Sue Ellen, Jock, Miss Ellie, Bobby, and Pam on Dallas. Like the rest of the nation, I spent a summer thinking Sue Ellen had shot JR and then (spoiler alert!) being shocked to learn it was Kristin. I mourned when Bobby died (spoiler alert!) and was elated to learn it was all a dream. And I was broken-hearted when Dallas ended in 1991, even though it had been years since I’d watched it.
I even faithfully returned to watch the new generation of Ewings when Dallas returned in 2012. JR, Sue Ellen, and Bobby (played by original cast members Larry Hagman, Linda Gray, and Patrick Duffy) were back and so was I. Most weeks I joined Tim and Michael to watch, share a Dallas-inspired meal and Texas Tea. Like me, Tim is a lifelong fan. He can identify the theme song in just two notes and, as a kid, created a family tree to keep track of all the Ewing branches.
Being diehard fans, Tim, Michael, and I were overjoyed a few weeks ago when we learned that Sue Ellen Ewing, I mean Linda Gray, would be appearing at The Book Stall in Winnetka promoting her new book, The Road to Happiness is Always Under Construction. We cleared our calendars and made plans to meet this icon of our childhood.
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Linda Gray was delightful. She is nothing like Sue Ellen; Sue Ellen was a role she played who stayed on the set, while Linda went home to her husband, kids, chickens, and horses. Living a healthy life is something she’s been a proponent of since the 1960s when her husband was diagnosed with a “restless stomach” and the doctor told him he’d need to take a pill for the rest of his life. Linda began researching and changed the family’s diet. When her husband went back to the doctor, the doctor took him off the pills telling him to continue the lifestyle changes he’d made.
Linda shared a story of how she created the Sue Ellen character. She thought about what kind of woman would marry a philandering asshole like JR Ewing and spent her time off the set in Neiman Marcus to understand Dallas society women. She learned their lingo (e.g., fluff and fold which means to get home early enough to touch-up your make-up and fix your hair in order to look perfect when your husband came home from the office), the charities they supported, and what they carried in their purse (hint: a gun and lipstick and nothing else), and their stories.
My favorite story, however, was the one she told about running into the Spellings at a Hollywood event prior to Dynasty hitting the air. She recalled speaking to Mrs. Spelling in the ladies room and Mrs. Spelling telling her of Dynasty, “all I care about is that Krystle Carrington have a bigger diamond than Sue Ellen.” Linda’s (silent) response? “Good luck.”
Linda summed up her life beliefs with the mantra “choose wisely,” which she says is woven throughout her book. I can’t wait to sit down to read it.
For more on our evening, check out Tim’s terrific piece.
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My childhood walked out the door at our garage sale
As I discussed earlier this week, my mom and I recently held a garage sale. It was fairly successful, but a bit difficult in ways that previous garage sales haven’t been. Prior garage sales have been about getting rid of excess items.
With this sale, however, my mom, brother, and I decided to purge items that had been saved from our childhoods. Mom had saved these items in hopes that we would pass them along to our children or so that our kids would have cool toys at grandma’s house, but because having kids is no longer an option for me, it felt like it was finally time to sell them and make some money. Dave, who also doesn’t have kids, isn’t overly sentimental, so selling these items was fine with him.
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What happened to my BFF Mary?
When we moved to Arlington Heights from Ft. Myers, Florida, in 1975, one of the biggest perks was that our block was filled with kids my age. There was Kenny and Judy next door; Kerrie and her younger brother across the street; Amy and her 3 siblings on the corner; Greg across the street; a family down the street with three girls whose names I’ve forgotten; and Mary, four houses down.
It was a street with kids and from dawn until dusk we all played together somewhere on the block.
But Mary was my best friend.
From the time my family moved onto the block, she and I were inseparable. Mary was an only child and I was the older sister to a one-year-old brother, who was not exactly the playmate my parents promised.
Mary and I learned how to ride bikes together. We played dolls and dress-up together. We roller skated. We shared secrets. We trick-or-treated together. If I wasn’t at her house, she was at mine. We even walked to the first day of kindergarten together hand-in-hand.
Mary and I were two peas in a pod. Lucy and Ethel. Laverne and Shirley. Rachel and Monica. Romy and Michele.
The summer after Kindergarten, our block completely changed. Kenny and Judy moved. Kerrie and her younger brother moved. The family down the street with with girls moved. Greg moved.
Mary changed schools. She left the public school around the corner to attend the Catholic school a couple of miles away.
We still played together after school and on weekends, but it wasn’t the same. She made new friends. I made new friends. We weren’t in the same Brownie troop.
And then the unthinkable happened: Mary’s family moved too.
She only moved across town, but when you’re six and your BFF moves, she might as well live in Timbuktu. We saw each other once after she moved. I remember going over to her house, which was much bigger than the ones we lived in. She had a playroom that had a secret play area in it. The secret play area was really just a storage area under the stairs, but it had a door and was like a permanent fort. So cool.
Christopher, who became Dave’s BFF, moved into Mary’s house. Our block of girls suddenly became a block of boys the same age as Dave.
Mary O’Brien is the first friend I remember having in life. I have a number of friends and family members who have close friends they’ve known their entire lives and I often wonder what it would be like to have a close friend as an adult who goes back to childhood. It’s not that I don’t have friends who go back to elementary school; it’s just that those friends aren’t in my inner circle and I’m not in theirs.
I don’t know what happened to Mary after that one playdate. If her family stayed in town, she either went to the Catholic high school with a number of my friends or to the other public high school in town. Although I’ve asked around in recent years, no one remembers her, which makes me think her family ultimately moved out of town. I’ve even searched on Facebook and haven’t found her. If she’s out there somewhere, I’d love to reconnect.
Do you have friends you’ve lost touch with in life?
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Tonight’s post is brought to you as part of ChicagoNow’s monthly Blogapalooza exercise when all ChicagoNow bloggers come together to write about the same topic in one hour.
Tonight’s topic from our fearless leader, Jimmy Greenfield:
Hey all,
Welcome to ChicagoNow’s Blogapalooz-Hour!
Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to publish a post in one hour. Here is tonight’s challenge:
“Write about a friend or acquaintance from your childhood with whom you’ve lost touch”
Can be someone you knew for a moment, a day, week or years. Maybe your best friend who lived next door, or someone who didn’t know you but who made an impression on you. Maybe it was your best friend at camp or somebody who you only knew because they were bullied every day. Think about what the person meant to you and why you’re still thinking about them after all these years.
The point of this exercise is to do it no matter what so don’t bail. Be creative, enjoy the process. Use words, images or video. Whatever you need to tell your story.
Be aware of the time. No matter when you finish, please wait until 10 p.m. to publish. Above all, please respect the deadline.
You have one hour.
Go.
You can read other Blogapalooza posts from tonight below.
Do you enjoy reading Little Merry Sunshine? Of course you do.
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10 tips for a successful garage sale
This past weekend, my mom and I held a garage sale at her home. I’ve held many garage sales in my life and really enjoy doing so because I strongly prefer to see things repurposed and reused rather than ending up in a landfill.
My mom’s neighbors are always amazed at the success of my garage sales and ask how I bring in so many people and make as much money as I do. Here are my top 10 tips for a successful garage sale.
- Check your town’s garage sale ordinances. Do you need a permit? Are there defined days and times when you can hold your sale? Limits on signage (e.g., size, placement, etc.) or types of items you can sell (e.g., live animals)? Better to find out in advance than risk a ticket eating up your profits. Arlington Heights, where my mom lives, has adopted a garage sale ordinance.
- Gather your items in advance and be discriminating. Gather your items in advance and make sure they’re in good condition. Selling clothes? Wash them first. If they are stained, worn out, or have holes, toss them out. Puzzles should have all their pieces. No one wants your chipped or cracked dishes. You can sell non-working electronics because sometimes people want them for parts or because they enjoy fixing them, but you need to price these items accordingly and be upfront that the item is not working.
- Never put out items you haven’t reviewed first. This is an extension of #2, but it’s so important you need to read this story. On Friday morning, as I was setting up our garage sale, my mom’s neighbor hauled out a bunch of boxes and lined them up on her driveway for people to simply rummage through. After a number of people had purchased items, a woman asked her how much she wanted for a wallet and the neighbor realized it was her wallet that she used regularly. She informed the woman that it was not for sale and grabbed the box to see what was in it only to discover that the box contained unused pads of checks to her elderly mom’s bank account and a number of other highly personal items. It turned out that her elderly mom, whom the neighbor lives with, had hidden these items for safekeeping in a box in the garage without telling her daughter. My mom’s neighbor pulled in all of her boxes and closed her garage sale immediately.
- Set up in advance. There is no way you can possibly organize and get all of your items displayed nicely on the morning of the sale. I set my sale up on Thursday and left most of the items covered in the driveway overnight. In order to block them, I pulled my car as far into the driveway as I could. Some bigger or more valuable items I put into the garage overnight, but I kept those items in their categories. If you live in a town where it’s not possible to keep your items outside overnight, you can store them in an organized fashion in your garage so moving them is easy. For example, I stored all electronics in my wagon in the garage overnight and just wheeled the wagon to the appropriate table on Friday morning.
- Display matters. Your garage sale is your store. If you walked into Target and there was no rhyme or reason to the store, you’d walk out without buying anything. It’s the same situation with your garage sale. Categorize your items: clothing (boy, girl, etc.), holiday items (by holiday), home decor, dishes, electronics, toys, tools, etc. Don’t overstuff your tables. Dust off your items or clean them. Grimy items don’t sell, but you’ll get more money if your items look like they’re kept in good condition. If your customers have to work hard to find something, they won’t do it. Make their lives easier and they’ll spend more money.
- Pricing. Pricing items takes a lot of time. Time is money, and your time is better spent focussing on your set-up and display. As a general rule, I do not price every single item. I have signs that say prices are negotiable and encourage people to make offers. Every garage sale has dishes (especially coffee mugs) and clothing, so these items need to be super cheap. I post signs listing clothing at $1.00 per item and shoes at $2.00 per pair and watch it all run out the door. I do price items that are more expensive, but part of the garage sale experience is haggling, so when someone asks me about a price of an unpriced item, my typical reply is “make me an offer.” If you’re selling vintage or items that are new in box/with tags, do your research to learn what these items are worth. Ebay is a great resource, but keep in mind that the audience on Ebay is far greater, so sellers can get higher prices. I price items lower than Ebay and often have printouts showing those prices.
- Advertising. This is key. If no one knows you’re having a garage sale, you’re not going to get any customers. I rely on Craigslist and a site called GSALR.com, along with advertising in the local newspaper. Almost every town has a Facebook group dedicated to garage sales or online sales. Be sure to join your local group and post there. Finally, don’t forget to post about your garage sale on your personal Facebook page. In your online ads, be descriptive about your items and share pictures. The pictures definitely helped bring customers to our garage sale.
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Which sign is easier to read from a distance? Answer: The one on the left, which is mine. Signage. Although advertising is important, signs are even more important. Lots of people will show up simply because they saw your signs, which should be large enough to be read easily from a moving car and be strategically placed. I make my own signs using neon-colored posterboard rather than purchasing pre-made signs because pre-made signs are typically small with very little room for personalization. I also make more signs than I think are necessary because garage sale signs disappear. Be a good neighbor and retrieve your signs down as soon as your garage sale is over.
- Guard your money and your home. In order to prevent theft, I keep my house locked and money on my body in a cross-body purse. I keep singles, fives, tens, and twenties in separate labeled envelopes which prevents me from giving someone an incorrect bill when making change. I never accept bills over $20 and periodically take batches of money into the house so I keep a minimal amount of money on me at all times.
- Have a plan for leftovers. I’ve never met anyone who sold 100% of their items at a garage sale. There are always leftovers. It’s important to have a plan in advance because you don’t want to bring your garage sale items back into your home. I always schedule a charity to pick-up my leftovers on the Monday after my garage sale. If you are going to throw out some items, remember that electronics, household chemicals, and other items are not allowed to be thrown in the regular garbage and must be specially recycled. The Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County (SWANCC) is a great resource for how to properly dispose of these items. I am also turning to Ebay and other online options for selling a few vintage items that didn’t sell.
That’s it. Those are my top 10 tips for a successful garage sale. How successful was I this past weekend? I made just shy of $600. It wasn’t my best garage sale, but I was happy. Do you have other tips for success? Please share them in the comments.
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September 11 Gratitude and Memories
We all remember where we were on September 11 and I’m no exception. I’ve written about my experiences of September 11th twice – in 2009 and 2011 – and you can click on those links and read my story.
While there are many things I wish to forget about September 11th and the wars that we entered as a direct result of that day, I hope that we never forget the unconditional love we showed for each other:
- Have you heard the story about Gander, Newfoundland Canada? I hadn’t heard it until two days ago and my cynical side didn’t believe it. I took to Google and discovered it was completely true and even better than the story I read on Facebook. Read it and watch the documentary 9/11: Operation Yellow Ribbon by Tom Brokaw. I’m glad I was wrong.
- The millions of people who attempted to give blood because they simply wanted to do something. When Dave and I went to give blood that afternoon, we were told we needed to come back because the donation center was overwhelmed with donors. If memory serves me correctly, we were given an appointment a few days out because they had filled their appointments for days.
- The unsung heroes whose stories we still don’t know of running into burning buildings and helping people get out.
- The kindness we spontaneously exhibited towards each other. People were respectful and slowed down. Suddenly, no one was in a rush because we all knew what mattered and it wasn’t the petty stuff. I wish we could return to treating each other with love and kindness again.
I know that the sad legacy of September 11th will live on for decades to come, but I hope that we also remember all the good that came out of the day.
How can we honor September 11 in a productive way? Thank a first responder for always being willing to run into danger. Re-read the Constitution, strive to understand it and the actual intent behind it. Write your Congressperson discussing an issue you’re passionate about. Get involved in the political process and research (rather than watch tv) all of the presidential candidates. Give blood. Help someone. Take a deep breath and count to 10 before responding to someone who is verbally puking on you. Be kind.
Do you enjoy reading Little Merry Sunshine? Of course you do.
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Jessica L Gardner 