Awareness

Well, apparently Michael J Fox is not the only person that will be bringing awareness to this shit pot of a disease.  A month or so ago, I was approached by a local woman about appearing  in an ad for Parkinson's awareness.  She explained to me that her husband was living with Parkinson's and knowing this disease I quickly understood that she may not have Parkinson's, but she also lives with it everyday as well.  The energy and determination this woman has is unbelievable.  She is determined to make a difference.  How do you tell someone like this no?  Not that I didn't want to do it, but it just seemed a bit foreign to me.  I don't even like getting family pictures taken, let alone ending up on a billboard.  I agreed to help and didn't hear anything more about it until Friday.  I had a message on my desk to call Val, and I swear to you the first thing that went through my mind was, you should have started that diet.  They say that the camera adds pounds, how many do you think it adds when they blow you up to billboard size?  I was nervous to even return the call, but I did and I was correct.  I needed to meet with them on Monday for our pictures.

Monday morning arrived and I was planning on what to wear.  I was sure that Stacie and Clinton from TLC's "what not to wear"  would soon be arriving.  Seriously people, what does one wear when they are going to be blown up and placed on a fucking billboard?  I decided to play it safe with a white sweater, secretly hoping the background would be white and I might just blend in.  The photo session was quick and painless.  The people were very nice.  I don't want to tell to much about the billboard, but there is a little boy that will also be on it.  He is simply adorable.  I was told that his father also suffers from Parkinson's.  This got to me a little bit.  This little innocent child is going to be affected by this shit pot of a disease in so many ways.  Looking at this angelic child, I knew I had made the right decision. 

I have been told it will be up yet this month and that it will be at a pretty busy intersection in Peoria.  Maybe, this will be a tiny part of helping to find a cure.  Maybe, this will allow that beautiful little boy some quality time with his Dad.

Today has been a good day.