I need you, not that you can do anything about what has been pulling at my heart for over thirty years. That's how long my son has been fighting his own war of survival against health issues that can take him from us at any time. This diary isn't about him and the latest fractures in time and hearts. It isn't about his face when he told me he was going to die. This isn't about my desperate heart pounding out hope and saying "Not yet and not now." It isn't about waiting to find out when he's going in for another surgery. It isn't about his fight to keep on going through so much fear, uncertainty, and pain.
Yet it is.
Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been around much lately. I tend to retreat when things are rough at home and they have been. Life seems to be enjoying swinging two by fours at my son and I'm more than a little angry and scared about that. There's nothing worse than feeling powerless to protect your child. Except the fear of losing your child. It doesn't get easier with time. I didn't and don't want to burden my dkos family with any of it. So I retreat, get my head and heart back to reasonable and then come back for a little while.
Or else the phone rings, like it did yesterday.
Our Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse called. While in the midst of her own fight for life against breast cancer, while dealing with radiation treatments she's been trying to help others make it through tough times. She's been working to get special guests to help with fund raising for our Netroots for the Troops care packages for our sons and daughters serving in Afghanistan. Sons like Sgt Louis Loftus.
Daughters like those in the Female Engagement Team with 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, RCT-7, providing medical care to villages in Afghanistan.
Chalk it up to an election year, folks being burnt out, tapped out, or whatever but it's not going well. Netroots for the Troops fundraising ends at the end of this month. The bottom line is we haven't raised nearly enough for the care packages that can make such a crucial difference in our soldier sons' and daughters' struggle to keep on going.
Our final blogathon fundraiser is next week. PDNC needs and deserves all the help we can give so I said I'd write a diary for today. This is that plea for folks to write diaries for the fundraiser, help get the word out, and yes of course, to donate what they can.
Woke at four this morning trying to figure out what to say. I really didn't want to do this. Like so many of us, I've been feeling overwhelmed. There are too many hurting. There's so much that seems out of our control. After awhile you go numb. At least I did, until I started watching you tube videos of children getting their parents back.....
Of a mom and dad getting their son back, his sister getting her brother back.
And then there was this.
I've been crying off and on all morning putting this together. A necessary thing and much preferable to numbness and feeling overwhelmed.
You see, I do have some understanding of what it's like having a child in harm's way. I do have some understanding of what it's like to wonder if they're going to make it through another day. I am intimately acquainted with the long shadow that war cast.
I strongly suspect that my son's health issues are due to his father's exposure to Agent Orange during his tour in Nam. It is all part of why I'm asking for your help.
My son has me. He has his family and friends. The soldiers in the videos have family and friends who love them. Who are there always for them. The soldiers we send care packages to do not. There isn't someone waiting at home for them. There isn't someone thinking about them, praying for them, sending them letters and care packages.
We have to be those someones for them. That IS something that we can do. All of us together can touch lives and make a difference. We can let our sons and daughters in harm's way know they aren't alone and that they do matter.
So, if you can, would you write a diary for next week's blogathon? If you would like to do so please send me a PM. If you can, would you make a donation? Five dollars or ten, no donation is too small. Every donation matters.
Will you help?
Netroots For The Troops
Netroots For The Troops® is raising funds to send Care Packages to our soldiers stationed overseas.
We are asking all of you to support our efforts and to also make a contribution for this worthwhile cause.
Over the years, many soldiers have sent letters to express their appreciation for these Care Packages and even posted thanks at Daily Kos
It was in the middle six months of my assignment in Afghanistan that the packages started arriving. I received an array of things from them… letters, candy, toothpaste, floss, baby wipes, razors, food, socks, books, dvd’s. The list could go on and on. It was amazing. Netroots for the Troops was always there... The packages were a reminder that our country knows about our fight. Every day, because of their support, I knew that if it was going to be my last day, I would be remembered and I would be honored.
Please make a donation HERE. Thank you from the entire 2012 NFTT Team.
Netroots For The Troops® is a project of Netroots for the Troops, Inc., a Virginia non-profit corporation. The organization raises money for the assembly, mailing and delivery of Care Packages to American military in war zones and to provide assistance to military families in the United States. Netroots For The Troops, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization.
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The NFTT diaries are a way for the Daily Kos community to support the troops in Afghanistan. We send them packages of items they might not otherwise receive through the normal military process but that they find useful. This is a non-political diary. While we understand there are differing views on the wars and the warriors, the site gives plenty of opportunity to express those views elsewhere. Furthermore, we would hope that users do not engage with those that attempt to hijack or otherwise disrupt these diaries.
We appreciate your understanding and support. Thanks!
I deeply, profoundly, appreciate anything you can do.
All blessings and thanks wonderful ones.
Wow, the diary popped back up on the rec list. Since it is now the evening, thought I'd add some Etta James. If you feel like spinning some tunes, feel free. Music is always good. :)