It’s always hard to find that line of just how personal one should be on their professional blog. I follow blogs, a lot of them, and I do appreciate when the writer offers a little look into what is going on in their ‘real world’. I think it helps to get to know the person better. And in fact, in marketing they say to be a bit personal on blogs so that people can relate to you and get to know you. But I have a hard time deciding just what to share, when to share and I never want to cross the line. But tonight I thought I would share with you what is going on my personal life.
Some of you may know that I am a volunteer photographer for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. If you are not familiar with this organization, we provide remembrance photography to parents suffering the loss of a newborn baby or child. As you can image, this is a terribly difficult thing to do however the parents of the beautiful babies are going through a much more terrible time than I can ever image and the images I take can help heal and help the parents remember just how beautiful their baby was.
I tell you this because tomorrow, Tuesday, my 27 month old son will have surgery at the Minneapolis Children’s Hospital. I have never walked though the doors at Minneapolis Children’s Hospital in joy. I am there regularly for sorrow. In fact I was just there on Friday. It can be scary. Each time I’m there I never know what to expect; I am not aware of the condition of the baby or child until I see them. I have to prepare myself for the worst because it always is the worst. The last couple days I have been scrambling… almost as if I am in nesting mode. I cleared all the work I had going on, finished all my projects, cleaned the house, paid the bills, went to the bank and the post office. For one, I am distracting myself. Two, I’m preparing myself.
That said, Elliott is going to be well taken care of at Childrens. We are so fortunate to have this amazing facility in Minneapolis. Elliott is having a pretty straight forward surgery to correct a birth defect. He has something called a branchial cleft cyst. (Here is some more information about it.) He has the 4th kind; the most uncommon kind. I know the surgery is going to go just fine. It’s going to be fast and I will get to bring my baby home from Children’s. For that I am thankful. My heart goes out to all the families that have extended stays at the hospitals, multiple surgeries, complications and those who do not get to bring their babies home. That is why I do what I do for NILMDTS.
