I am a reader, a VORACIOUS reader, a bookworm, or so I've been called. My retention is very good, and I'm curious about all sorts of things so I can always find something that interests me. Several years ago I was looking for a recipe online, and stumbled accross what I considered to be some of the most beautiful pictures I had ever seen. You see I had clicked myself onto the website for Pioneer Woman. I had never seen anything like it, being from Key West, the scenery and horses(!) and cows(!) and her family's lifestyle was like going to the moon, I loved it! She is quite famous now, and rightly so...she always makes you feel like a friend.
So, to make a long story a little shorter I read ALL of her entries (years worth) and then said "now what?" and discovered that she had blogs that SHE recommends, and I checked those out. And among a few others I fell in love with this one www.momofali.com and began to follow it. Please check it out, she is smart, she is funny, and well, just see for yourself. Let's just say her family has been through more than I think most could survive, and thrive, and with love, humor and grace.
Then last year she posted this...
Thirst
posted by Momo Fali on February 28, 2012
In roughly nine hours my family and I were going to embark on a family
vacation.
My kids have had a lot of things happen in their lives that most kids don’t
have to deal with, and right now they have an aunt and a grandmother fighting
cancer. Things have been kind of heavy around here. We planned a trip around
fun life experiences to show them that things don’t always have to be a
bummer.
We were going to go to Key Largo with trips to the Everglades and Key West . We were going to go
parasailing, swimming with dolphins, and tour the islands on wave-runners. We were going to have a picnic on the beach.
My nine year old son, who has a map of the world on his bedroom wall and who sleeps with
an airplane, was so excited for his first plane ride. He has been counting down the days.
But, irony? It bites hard! Because the kid with all of the medical problems is now too sick to go.
Sigh.
This afternoon, I had to make massive, last-minute cancellations through my tears as my son slept fitfully on the couch. I cried for an hour straight. When my son woke and found out we weren’t going, he shed tears of his own.
We may not be headed to the beach, but there is certainly no shortage of salt water around here.
And so... for the first time EVER, I posted a comment on someones blog, and it was this....
·Toni Tarracino Friday, 2 March, 2012 at 10:56
So sorry about your trip, etc. etc. etc.
BUT…I am a CONCIERGE in KEY WEST!!! You have my e-mail now, let me know when you reschedule and I will try to see if I can be helpful to you and your family…I feel like I know ya’ll anyway…XO Toni
And me? Well, I will try to explain just a little what this experience did for me. It was right before Christmas, and I talked to several friends and before I knew it all of these people got more excited than I was almost, and went out of thier way to show this wonderful family a wonderful time.
XO
Smiles,
Toni