Rollin' On the River

I love it when things come together.

My wife and I spent time with our mothers during Mother's Day weekend, as you would hope. With my mother, it always seems like there is something else going on, but that might be my imagination. I came from a house that struggles with expressing emotions and feelings, especially really telling someone how they really feel non-passive/aggressively, and to their face. This has become a struggle in my marriage, and well throughout my life. Former girlfriends would say things like 'You don't let me in" or "I can't get through to you". My wife and I have developed a saying that we've 'Got to let me in on the meeting" because I, have a comfortable home in my own head. It used to be a lot worse of course before identifying and getting treated for depression. I lost a couple friends over the years, and probably hadn't made a lot of good decisions. Thankfully, nothing truly violent, at least to others, and only some nights in jail due to some other bad choices involving alcohol and bad timing. Oh and parking tickets.

Then, this past weekend my wife and I spent some time with a great bunch of kids trying to make a difference in their community. Which is always spectacular, but the oldest of these is probably 16 or will be soon, and the youngest is about 10 years old. They're part of the group, Stand For The Silent in the Central Iowa chapter. The chapter was started by my sister-in-law and her daughters, and has spread through the Johnston school system, and several schools here in Polk county. They've had the founder, Kirk Smalley here in the area to speak a couple of times. I've attended the presentation in person, and man is it powerful. The whole story just guts you. The saddest thing is it can be prevented, even eliminated.  Please check them out, read the message and if you can help either monetarily or just by spreading the word, please do. I know it is a good cause.

I work in root-cause-analysis at work, trying to find the base cause of an issue. Think, "its all connected' but with a purpose and less mystical voice. So, that's why when I decided to do this drive it was originally for fun to see if I could 'beat the sun' like Jeremy did. I of course am stacking the odds in my favor, but to be fair the sun is a lot bigger, hotter, and faster than any vehicle developed by man (so far). So, when I thought about doing it for charity, and then seeing Brandon Marshall's foundation working hard last fall, (remember the green shoes and the NFL fine?) it was clear. I believe most of our modern problems stem from mental health issues. Things like bullying, drug abuse, sexual abuse, and others stem from wide arrays of mental health issues, and people not being able to recognize them, or too embarrassed to seek help. Thus, Brandon's foundation was a perfect fit. It helped that he plays for the Chicago Bears, and I'm a big fan of that team as some of you know, but Brandon is the first player I would follow/cheer for even if he went to play for another team. Unless it was the Packers, of course. I mean, there's no pill that could help with that.

Fundraising update: We've officially raised 50% of my goal, with 33 days to go, so the toes will be painted soon, and for the trip. So thank you all so much!