I spent last weekend testing the elasticity of my brain. An ER nurse in my neighborhood put out a request for as many headbands as we could make with buttons sewn on just above the ears. The elastic from face masks was wearing out their skin. Well, of course we all answered the call.
For some of us, like me, that meant brushing off very old skills and looking up the directions online for that sewing machine we haven’t looked at it in years. Or decades.
Let me just add in here, big shout out to the Girl Scouts. They’re the only reason I have these skills and they must have done a pretty good job because before long I had successfully threaded a bobbin again. I felt like a rock star. Things got a little rocky from there. Stitch tension turned out to be a bugaboo for a while. But a few YouTube videos and FaceTime with a crafty friend and I figured out most of it.
It took an entire weekend to almost complete four of them, but I’m picking up speed.
Every time my back ached, and I wanted to give up, I thought of how selflessly nurses and doctors around the entire world were performing against overwhelming odds and thought, I’m making headbands from the safety of my house. Try again.
It’s a unique moment in time where for once we all feel how connected we are around the globe in a very real and necessary way. We’ve always been this connected, but it’s so easy to lose sight in the pursuit of ambition or family or a million other things. The choices we make reverberate out and affect others, but that’s easy to forget when I can’t see everyone else.
Now, we all see the world as a collective and as each day creeps by and the news get harder to look at, we are digging deeper to let each other know a few very important things. We are all connected, we all matter, we are willing to take care of each other, we all have unique gifts that benefit others, and the smallest kind gesture has an echo that can be heard around the world.
One day, all of this will be solved, and we will get the chance to go back out into the world and hug each other and gather together around tables and hold hands. When that happens, I will remember how the world became one crazy large family for just a little while and we laughed and cried and grieved and rejoiced as one. Love you all, stay safe, find a little joy in the day.
More adventures to follow.
Note: I’m out here reading a chapter a day from Guardians of Magic, Book 08 in the Leira Chronicles right now from my Facebook author page every day at 1 pm. The completed Adult Story Times can be found on my YouTube channel so you can catch up or play them again.
Author Notes - Michael Anderle
April 13, 2020
THANK YOU for reading our story!
We have a few of these planned, but we don’t know if we should continue writing and publishing without your input.
Options include leaving a review, reaching out on Facebook to let us know, and smoke signals.
Frankly, smoke signals might get misconstrued as low-hanging clouds, so you might want to nix that idea.
I don’t sew
Last week, I went by the amazing BBQ place Jessie Rae’s and supported their effort to make sandwiches for the hospitals around Las Vegas during this pandemic.
I have to admit I didn’t even KNOW about it until after it was over.
Like, this event was mentioned on their Facebook Page, complete with pictures type of over. So, I did what anyone who has shamelessly plugged Jessie Rae’s and used my sources (read Mike Ross, the owners, phone number) and called him, asking about helping.
Seems Jessie Rae’s just did this for the hospital folks. Then, I asked him how we help pay for the efforts, and the conversation went something like this:
Author: So, how can I contribute some money for the effort?
Mike Ross: Actually, we didn’t ask for any. I don’t feel comfortable asking.
Author: You didn’t ask, I did. So, how do I do that?
Mike Ross: I don’t know. We aren’t set up to do that. We aren’t a non-profit.
Author: Mike, it’s pretty easy. I come in and you charge me $100 for some French fries, and I buy five of them. I’m not expecting a non-profit receipt here, buddy.
<pause while Mike R. thinks this over.>
Mike Ross: Well, my mom is taking orders and she knows you, so if you want to do that, thank you.
Author: You are welcome. Plus, you know, I’m going to order a pound of meat. But that’s just because I want to support you guys, too. It has nothing to do with the fact I need some <redacted> BBQ in my life.
Mike’s mom allowed me to order the meat, then gave it to me free. That’s the type of people Mike and his folks are. I made a non-tax-deductible donation, and we all feel a little better in life during these annoying times.
If you want to buy some “James Brownstone French Fries for the Medical Professionals” (That’s a mouthful) number is below – but do NOT feel any obligation. You will count under the donations I push on him.
Jessie Rae’s Phone number is: +1 (702) 541-5546
You might have to explain this to whoever picks up the phone. I haven’t told Mike Ross about it yet.
Hehehehe.
Here is how I suspect a call would go:
“Hello, Jessie Rae’s.”
“I would like to buy Brownstone Fries.”
“What? We don’t sell Brownstone Fries.”
“You know Brownstone, the signed books you have in the restaurant to give to fans of Michael Anderle?”
“Yesssss? (maybe no?)”
“Well,
