Meeting Destiny

My gnomes are starting to take over the world, but I'm sure it's in a good way. Seriously, the magic that they seem to be bringing to the small group of people who know about them (I'm nearing 1,000 Facebook Fans!!!) is just amazing. The comments of support and love I receive from otherwise strangers just warms my heart. Magic. Pure magic.

But there I go, avoiding the topic at hand. To be honest, I'm a bit scared to write this post because I just don't think I can do it justice. I recently posted on my facebook page a comment saying I was considering trying to raise a little money for a local family in need. When all was said and done, I was able to raise about $325, three deluxe fairy doors from Enchanted Doorways, one sock monkey and one sock dinosaur from Socky Toys to help Destiny. Wow!

So last night (as I write this) we went over to meet Destiny herself. She needed to pick the winner of the raffle! I'll be honest I was a bit nervous meeting Tammy and her family in person. Why? I suppose now is a good time for a bit of background.

I "met" Tammy years ago and have always been impressed by her. She has a disability (I think it's cerebral palsy though I've never confirmed this) that has left her in a wheel chair and a level of difficulty talking. Yet somehow she is able to be a fantastic mother, completely engaged in her children's lives. Combine that with her recently becoming a single mother and learning about her daughter's diagnosis... how does she do it all? She's amazing.

That being said, I was nervous about last night. How would Ellie and Addie react to her disability? How would I react? Would I be able to understand her when she spoke? What about Destiny? What if she had a seizure while we were visiting? How would that affect Ellie? So many unknowns and only one way to find out the answers.

In a nutshell (yeah right), it went really well. Destiny and Ellie got along so well it was incredible. Destiny was so generous and gave Ellie a necklace, telling her that the moon light shines on it to give it magical powers. Ellie, in return, assured Destiny that she would wear the necklace every time she came to visit and would take very good care of it.

It was nice to see Benny too, who obviously did a great job of taking care of his Mommy and his sister. He was such a smart boy and loved to play with Addie.

And then there was Tammy. What an incredible woman! For the most part I was able to understand everything she said, though I'm sure she was talking deliberately for my sake. The thing that sticks with me today, which is the aspect I'm almost afraid to write about, is how thankful she was. Here is a woman whose life is so far from anything I can imagine, and yet she went on and on about how blessed she is. She does not know what will happen to Destiny, but she feels blessed to be able to spend TODAY with her daughter.

We talked a lot about our kids. Destiny used to be like Addie, so easy going, calm and "go with the flow." With her medications, she has developed ADHD so it's hard for Tammy to see her little girl becoming someone else. Then again, only a month ago she wasn't able to function, let alone play with friends. I had a hard time keeping it together while I imagined what it would be like to slowly lose my daughter like that.

To say the night was powerful just isn't saying enough. As we were leaving I remembered that we still needed a video of Destiny choosing a raffle winner. The magic came after the winner was chosen, when the kids decided that they wanted to go through ALL the names because it was so much fun. So 40 minutes later we had wonderful videos of the children thanking each of the many raffle participants. See the videos here.

When we left (for REAL this time), both Ellie and Addie gave Tammy a hug. It melted my heart to see that they had no problems with her. Ellie claims she does not want to come back for another play date, but she only wants to come back if they can do a sleepover. Heheheh... her and her sleepovers.

Though it was a later night than I anticipated, it was well worth it. When we got home Ellie wanted to stand in the moon light long enough to allow her beautiful necklace to soak in as much magic as possible. I wonder if she and Destiny know just how much magic they really do bring to the world - with or without the aid of moonbeams.

If you would like to read more about Destiny, please see her Wings for Destiny blog.