It occurs to me that I cannot come up with a pithy title. Summer brain must be in full effect already. It’s either that or I’ve been so busy since posting about doing good deeds that my brain feels like it’s been on the spin cycle. Projects are coming at me left and right so I do what any sane person does when it gets to be too much: I rearrange my furniture. This, of course, leads to cleaning like a Whirling Dervish on crack. (I don’t know what any of this is like, but metaphors seem to be the du jour today.)
Before I get to an update on Kelleri I should mention one of the things that kept me busy. Mallory is pretty awesome at her day job as a project manager for kitchens and bathrooms and she tells me that I need to hire her because my kitchen needs a makeover, but really I think a little backsplash and some cosmetic touches would be nice. In her free time she helped a friend plan for a really awesome, intimate wedding and enlisted my help to set it up. Apparently, she sought the advice of her sister, Maddie, who does wedding planning and flowers and other cool stuff, too. How I ended up with such creative girls is kind of a mystery if you saw how bland my house is. It’s in need of some help and working with Mallory kind of inspired me.
They played “January Wedding” by the Avett Brothers at their wedding. In June. It was perfect. Now, I can’t get enough of that song.
These are empty wine bottles painted white with a deep blue satin ribbon around them. They’re on some Spanish moss on a silver tray and then she placed a piece of burlap on the white tablecloth. These are the cocktail tables where wedding guests can stand. I’m not sure if the picture does it justice, but it was really pretty and earthy and fit the couple which is, obviously, the way it’s supposed to be. The bride put some wildflowers in the wine bottles at the last second and it was divine! The soft greens, the moss, the tan burlap, and the blue were so pretty against the white backdrop.
Speaking of Mallory (and a segue! here it comes!), she left 15 comments on that post right away thus forcing me to give Kelleri at least $15.
Even after all this time and my efforts to pretend that we had more than we did, Mallory still remembers how hard we had it. Also, I broke her of the Barbie doll habit so that the Baby Feminism doesn’t have to cry anymore.
I have a confession to make: I wasn’t even expecting how nice the comments were going to be on that post. It really felt like something small I could do and then several people just started donating to the fund. A lovely lady named Erin even offered to match whatever funds I was going to donate. She’s a longtime reader and college professor and this made her come out of the woodwork (did you dust in there, Erin?) and it made me weep. This whole past week I’ve been weepy and I think it’s because it’s really pretty easy to do nice things for other people. In the past I have assumed that to be a philanthropist you had to have a lot of money. Like, an excess of money. Money bags just sitting in silk purses draped over settees that a French bulldog wipes his butt on. Like, a lot of money. Also, metaphors. Sorry about that.
For the last five days I have spent time getting to know Kelleri and we had a marathon email exchange this weekend that makes me want to come back here and tell you this:
Y’all. Kelleri is AMAZING. She is brilliant and funny and likes all the great geeky things that all the great geeks like! Her daughter is sweet and adorable! WE SHOULD ADOPT THEM.
You don’t need convincing, I’m sure. That’s the interesting thing about trust. I didn’t know all these things about her when I took this on. She didn’t know me, either (Hi. Not an axe murderer. Promise.) It took her awhile to accept the offer after she mulled it around for a whole day. Kelleri feels lucky, as do I, to have been a part of this and is doing, thankfully, well in life right now. But I know that anyone who is raising a daughter while working a full-time job and attending school still has a few struggles. Maybe this will pay for a class or two. Perhaps she will buy new clothes or a new microwave. I don’t know and it’s not for me to know. Trust has to go that far and once it’s out of our hands, it’s out of our hands. I was heartened to know that she was actually pretty busy this weekend as well with a fundraiser for a friend with brain cancer.
Fascinating how that whole we-live-here-together-on-this-earth will take care of itself, isn’t it?
Screenshot of our donation. OURS. You and me. We did that together.
With all the money that came in we were able to send her $500. I was pretty tickled that I even had to convert New Zealand dollars since a donation came in from Katie, another longtime reader. In fact, I really want to mention by first name only people who gave anywhere from $5 to $125.
A huge thank you to Holly, Maria, Melanie, Kristen, Helen, Karen, Sara, Peggy, Adrienne, Jeremy, Raquita, Janet, Katie, and Erin. A huge thank you is really all I’ve got. That and a little more faith in humanity’s capacity to love right now. I needed that.
True love is not the kind of thing you should turn down. Don’t ever turn it down.
- “January Wedding”, The Avett Brothers
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
If I’m honest here, I don’t really know what to say. This whole situation has just blown me away.
Any one who has ever had to overcome huge obstacles learns that in order to be successful you have to learn how to be independent, and how to fight for what you need. The very first hard lesson I learned is that you can only depend on yourself because no one is going to give you anything. The second is that no matter what’s happening around you, you have to get up, put on your big girl panties, and go to work.
So you can imagine after 13 years of reminding myself that I’m in this alone, that it would simply amaze me that anyone would care enough to be this nice to me. That it was several somebodies, well, that’s almost too much to comprehend. The money is kind, and is of course appreciated, but truly your thoughts are priceless.
*mwah*
Obviously I lurk on her blog and comment rarely but this… THIS… Is one of the reasons I love her like I do.
Kelly, you amaze me every day.