Tonight's picture was taken in October of 2008. I know it was a Friday, given the activity in the hallway. The chemistry club came to the pediatric floor to do a hands on activity with the kids. That day, they were taking fresh roses, and putting them into dry ice. The team then dropped the dry iced roses onto the floor, and they broke into a million pieces. Here's the kicker though! Mattie wouldn't give up his fresh rose. He did not want to see it frozen and broken. Instead, he gave me the rose! What a boy! Pictured with Mattie were his best buddy in cancer, Brandon, and two child life interns (Whitney and Lesley). Mattie, Brandon, Whitney and Lesley got along splendidly with each other and anyone who got along with Mattie and made him happy was a blessing.
Quote of the day: Be brave enough to try something new; you might just succeed. ~ Stacey Kehoe
My dad had a physical therapy session this morning. It was a glorious weather day, so he did his session alfresco. My dad seems to respond positively to being outside and gets a lot more accomplished with his therapists when he is outside. While he was busy, I decided to make a phone call to a governmental agency in Richmond, VA that oversees the Foundation's fundraising registration. As an aside, in order for a non-profit to fundraise, one has to be registered in the state they are incorporated in and where they collect the majority of their funds.
Typically this registration process has been paper and pencil. It is laborious, because it needs to be signed by two board members. Not signed electronically, but with fresh ink signatures! Literally it involves me mailing documents to my board member to get her signature and then finally remailing the whole package to Richmond. But this year, the agency created an on-line portal. If you know me, then you know I always have technology issues. When I first registered for this agency's portal in the summer time, you want to know how long it took me to get logged in? Try a month! I couldn't get onto this system for the life of me. It was only through multiple emails and tries that I finally got it to work.
This week, while Cody (my plumber) was here, I had the time at home to work on the fundraising registration renewal application. I got through the whole thing, and there was even a link to electronically send the application to my board member for her to review and sign. Sounded great! Seemed streamlined! Except my board member never received the email request for her signature! Given that the application is due in the beginning of November, I was getting frustrated. Me and my board member even considered going back to the paper and pencil version.
But today, I said to myself..... NO! I have figured out other harder things, I can get this to work too! So what did I do? I called the technical support staff at the agency and got connected to Sam. Sam was super helpful and very patient. He confirmed that an email was sent to my board member, but he decided to resend it and copy me by email. Thankfully I had the wherewithal to ask Sam, the steps that my board member needed to follow to get onto the system and sign the document. Seriously if Sam did not give me a step by step process, my board member would have never figured it out. I literally wrote down everything Sam told me, put it in an email, and sent it to my board member with Sam on copy!
As of tonight, the application is completed, the fee paid for, and I am awaiting a decision from the agency. I would have to say that with my separation and divorce, I have learned to work BEYOND my comfort zone. I have no problem admitting I have no idea how to do something, and I know when to turn to professionals for help. I would say this is the only GOOD thing I have learned from my divorce.
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