Let me start this off by sharing that Jessica is currently in third place for the Stay Classy Award for Volunteer Of The Year. Voting ends this week, so it’s not too late! Keep voting and spreading the word!
Most importantly, Jessica is doing extremely well. She just finished up her second round of chemo, which went light-years better than round one. She’s rocking her typically awesome attitude, despite the fact that her hair is falling out rapidly. If she’s even a tiny bit sad about it, you wouldn’t know. Her outlook is: “Oh well, I’m too busy beating cancer to care.” I am floored by her faith and courage every. single. day.
“Optimism is the foundation of courage.” (-Nicholas Murray Butler)
I am also floored by the overwhelming kindness and compassion of all of the friends, friends-of-friends, friends I haven’t spoken to in years, distant relatives, acquaintances, complete strangers, and strangers-of-strangers, who have all taken time to cast their votes for Jessica, spread the word, and say a prayer for her.
A million Thank Yous to everyone who has voted and continues to rally for more votes!
Truthfully, I’m shocked she’s not in first place based on the countless emails, messages, comments, tweets, and texts I’ve received notifying me of another vote (and prayer) for Jessica. I could be frustrated by this, but if I’ve learned anything from our little warrior, it’s that this is not something worth being upset about.
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well,
but the certainty that something makes sense,
regardless of how it turns out.” (-Barbara Johnson)
You might remember, I hosted a giveaway in hopes that it would inspire tons of extra votes for Jessica. The post got hundreds of “hits” and I received numerous emails from readers who voted; however, I didn’t get nearly as many comments as I’d hoped. There were 13 comments, and so I went to Random.org to select the lucky winner of the iPod Shuffle and voila:
Comment #9 came from “breathensmile,” who, go figure, is my husband. I’m not sure if he even wants an iPod Shuffle, but I’ve (lovingly) deemed him ineligible for the prize. Sorry, hub, your eternal prize is ME!
And the next go-round with Random.org spits out #13, which is…
Lastly, in case you skipped over everything else I wrote, or the gazillion-jillion other pleas I’ve thrown out to the universe, pleeeeease GO: Vote for Jessica’s Jackpots for Volunteer Of The Year!
