If you drive by my home and there’s toilet paper hanging out the window, don’t be alarmed. The Phillips’ household is officially a bachelor pad.
My daughter and I are on our way to New York City to speak at the Susan G. Komen Partner Summit. Apparently, big companies like to know where their charitable donations are going, so once a year, the Komen Foundation tells them. This year, they wanted a super cute kid involved, so they called Jordan.
Actually, Jordan was on their radar because of all of those cozys she made last fall. (Brief recap: Jordan sewed hundreds of coffee cup cozys, you donated money to have one and she gave that money to Komen Columbus to pay for research and programs in Southeastern Ohio. One more thing– Southeastern Ohio has the highest breast cancer death rate in the nation. Raising money for early detection is a big deal.)
My 12 year old daughter was the top fundraiser for the Athens Race for the Cure. The folks at the national headquarters in Texas found out about my pint-sized seamstress and asked us to come to the Big Apple to talk about why she would set up shop in our home.
So Jo and I are on our way to New York City. We plan on seeing the Rockettes, the Broadway musical Wicked, and Jojo’s former piano teacher, Miss Christa. We’ll probably also see Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Times Square at night.
Then on Thursday morning, we’ll share our story with a group 150 people at One World Trade Center, overlooking the 9/11 memorial. I imagine it will be a powerful experience for a lot of reasons.
Once again, I have to say, the outpouring of love and support you gave my daughter during our battle with breast cancer is among the biggest blessings of my life. I’ve experienced much kindness throughout the years, but I never would have witnessed that sort of flood of affection if I hadn’t gotten sick. Imagine that.
Pain and joy exist simultaneously. I see it in my life daily. I hope you see it in yours, too.
Now, please head over to Facebook if you have a minute and let me know what else we should see during our 5 days in the big city! I don’t want to miss a single thing!