Donations and Generosity

The countdown continues...10 days and 9 hours to liftoff! All sorts of last-minute details are emerging, being added onto The List, and some are actually getting crossed off. I've now purchased the soccer ball that is my share of the bunch of them our group is bringing as gifts for the kids at BeadForLife in Uganda -- now I just have to figure out how to deflate it to fit in my suitcase!

We were also asked to bring school supplies, so yesterday when I was out and about, I bumped into a place called The Learning Palace, an educational toy store here in Portland. I went in and wandered vaguely around -- me with no kids and no clue what was the best thing to bring -- and it occurred to me that maybe, just MAYBE, I could ask them to donate some stuff. So long story short, (which included a ballsy phone call and a very detailed email) it looks like they are going to do just that! I've asked for SMALL items, please, again for that suitcase problem. The Donations Guy said he'd try to have it together for me next week before I go. I'm so good at giving people long lead times!

I also received the sweetest note in the mail today -- snail mail, remember that? -- from Carol and Gene, part of my family in Ohio. They wanted to tell me how proud of me they were of me and that they wanted to support me on my trip, and enclosed a check for $100! Whoo-hoo! And a heart full of gratitude for their kindness and generosity, too.

My last newsy item is literally about the news-- an update on The Oregonian from my story in the first post. I was granted a meeting with the Travel Section Editor on Thursday, and brought him a sample of my writing (it was the eulogy I had written when my dog Jasper died last summer -- many of you probably received that as an email). Having seemingly passed that test, we sat over a cup of coffee and he gave me lots of pointers about how to interview for an interesting story, what types of photos they'll be looking for, and overall gave me encouragement to take the leap and write a piece for the paper. "I've never done this before -- meet with someone and give them tips like this," he said. "But most writing I see is really crap and yours at least is clear and easy to follow, so we'll see what you can do with it. I'm still not promising anything, though..." "I know, I know," I gushed, thrilled to have even gotten this far. "But I like what you're doing, I think it's a good cause, and I'd like to help you get some more publicity if I can," he concluded, standing up and bringing our meeting to an abrupt end. I grabbed my half-drunk cup of coffee and trotted after him as he strode out of the building, huge grin on my face. Another victory! So far, this is all going downright swimmingly!