I spent the last few days at a really fabulous conference put on my by amazing friend, Ana. I had a lot of commitments while I was there, but I did have time to attend some sessions and meet with some of the sponsoring businesses. I came across a local LA company called MyIntent where they’ll put a word or phrase of your choosing on a bracelet. I selected “Be Brave,” two words that always tie me back to Maddie and Jackie, two of the bravest people I’ve ever known. As we move forward with Friends of Maddie’s new mission, and I prepare to speak at the March of Dimes walk in April, I will hold tightly to their strength and inspiration to Be Brave as we try to help others through this life of living with loss.

be brave

Around The ‘Net

~The rise of American authoritarianism

~K Troop: The story of the eradication of the original Ku Klux Klan.

~After The Big One: An immersive, reported science fiction saga about surviving the coming mega-quake.

~Should you edit your children’s genes?

~Death By Text

~Why Isn’t Trader Joe’s on Social Media?

~That Adorable Asian Kid Didn’t Know She’d Be the Butt of Chris Rock’s Oscars Joke — and Neither Did Her Mom

~Is The Album Review Dead

~My Dirty Little Secret

~The Lonely Launchpads and Rusted Rockets of America’s Abandoned Space Facilities

~Scientists Discover ‘Remarkable Little Octopod,’ Possibly New Species

Zootopia

Mike took the kids to see Zootopia yesterday and they all came home happy (James fell asleep during the movie, but he’s been fighting off ear infections so that’s not surprising). Here are their reviews:

Annie: “It was a little scary but it was really, really, REALLY fun! I liked it because everyone thought the bunny wasn’t going to be a good policeman but she turned out to be a really good one.”

Mike: I’d had a rough go with kid films of late (ahem, Norm of the North), but this one is definitely one parents will enjoy. There were lots of great characters and funny moments (many aimed at parents), terrific animation, and a good message about acceptance.

zootopia

Pupdate

~Earlier this week, I took Rigby to the veterinary oncologist for a checkup. I posted about it on Facebook but I wanted to share it here, too. The oncologist said everything looked mostly positive, but he switched Rigby to a different chemo drug to see if it can bring down her cancer markers a little more. One slight worry is that her platelets are low, measured at 20k. He thinks she is likely above 30k for some complicated reasons but that we need to watch for blood in her stool, bruises on her, etc, because anything under 30k can lead to spontaneous hemorrhaging. But, he said her bone marrow started to show signs of responding to treatment this month, so he’s hopeful her platelet numbers will go up. He wasn’t concerned about the vomiting, which was a relief to me! I still worry about her, but I’m glad that things seem to be going in the right direction. Thanks for all of your well wishes, Rigby appreciates them very much (and we do, too!).

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Marching On

~And here’s your friendly reminder to support our March for Babies team. Thank you!