Blown Away

Every now and then the wind starts blowing through the oak trees that stand up to 80 feet tall over my house. It is quite the experience because you can watch these trees sway back and forth and you wonder when one is just going to give and fall on any one of the houses in my neighborhood. When the wind gets up to 30mph sustained it keeps me up at night with the creepy sounds that make me want to move to the other end of the house. We have seen some bigger branches break off in the wind and one time a tree lifted up a shed nearby on its way down. I actually like the wind most of the time, but I don't like the trees that are within range of falling on my house.

This morning I didn't have anything scheduled to work on because we were attending the fundraiser sponsored by http://www.4him2day.org/ I knew it would be a good event but I was not expecting to be blown away with the compassion and generosity of the people that either bought tickets or attended.

Today as I look out the window at the small maple tree in my back yard I think about how powerful the wind can be. Sometimes there is such a gentle breeze that you hardly even notice it. On warmer days that same breeze feels so refreshing as I work hard outside. Today the temperature is only about 62 degrees and the wind is chilling at 10-15mph. In the winter it can blow right through four layers of clothes and with the rain it can be really wake you up when it hits your face. Over on the Oregon coast the winds can reach 120mph and blow over hillsides full of fir trees. Most of our wind comes straight from the south but with hurricane force. Just a year ago a tornado touched down only 20 miles from my house which was very rare, but still very damaging. I have never been back east but I have heard about the tragedy of places like Joplin, Missouri. Its easy to talk about the weather, especially when its bad but talking about curing kids with cancer should be just as easy.

Childhood cancer is no gentle breeze or even a chilling wind, it is a tornado wrapped up in a hurricane that has not been able to be stopped. Every single day over 40 kids will be diagnosed with some form of pediatric cancer and 7 will die. We who are aware probably talk about these numbers more that the temperatures outside. Now is the time to start talking about these kids like its the next major weather even on the radar. It happenes in every town and affects every person but what are we doing to try to stop it if we are not talking about it daily? Its time to step out of our under ground shelters and stand against the powerful winds of childhood cancer and push back until this twister of destruction is blown away. Watch this video and prepare yourself to take childhood cancer awareness to the next level.