“Better to lose count while naming your blessings than to lose your blessings to counting your troubles.”  ~Maltbie D. Babcock

Today is a gentle reminder for you and me that sometimes your blessings are piling up and you may forget, or rather perhaps you just aren’t tuned in, but then you can be cued to pay attention out of the blue.

Now don’t get me wrong when I say this, because I do know just how blessed we are, and have been in the support of our family and friends as it has related to our struggles and challenges these past 18 months, but now all of you will be passing those blessings along to so many other families that have faced what we have faced: here’s how.

Yesterday as I was driving back from a breakfast with a friend who is pregnant and I was ruminating about all the things I want to talk about in my upcoming blog posts, I got a call that reminded me of just how blessed we are, so I am putting in pin in those thoughts because you all deserve a shining light.

As many of you know, I started a team this year for the March of Dimes walk here in LA on April 30. As the Wondertwins, Q and E, are the product of their goal-oriented parents, (seriously I am like a retriever, if you throw the ball and my goal is to catch it I will run after it every-time as long as you pat me on the head and tell me what a good girl I am…I mean, it borders on being a problem, but we can talk about my neurosis another day:))., they set a very ambitious goal of raising $10,000. Since there seems to be no Fundraising 101 guide to appropriate and achievable amounts of what one should commit to in these situations,  I threw the number up not quite sure if we could do it, but with the sentiment “wouldn’t it be amazing if we could”.  We should now stop briefly to note I have not used a pledge sheet since I was in elementary school, and I am quite sure I was collecting cans and bottles for a terrarium for our class or something equally horrifying and hilarious for my easily embarrassed 8 year old self. And so now in present day, with that $10,000 number out there, I began to stalk and harass all of our friends and family.

The irony of all this is that I normally dislike fundraising, not because I don’t think it’s an amazing skill and ability, just ask KSP, I pretty much donate to everything including the constant stream of door to door solicitors, which is also a bit of a problem. (BTW,  I am now cut off from giving money to the door to door folks, so don’t bother coming by to ask me to pay for your club team baseball trip, can’t do it).  For me asking people for money, or help for that matter, makes me uncomfortable; however, I do love and have made a career out of negotiating multi-million dollar deals with advertisers and do not have any problem asking for what I believe the value of opportunity to be…how weird is that?  Anyway,  all of this held very true throughout my life, until recently.

For obvious reasons,  I have become very passionate about the families that go through the hardships of prematurity and the fact that over a half a million babies are born prematurely each year. For those that don’t know much about the March of Dimes organization,  it provides resources to these families which is an incredible gift in a very challenging time especially since many of these families are financially struggling as it is. So to participate this year through walking and fundraising and to try to give was the least Team Pruitt could do to help out. So, here’s the point. As I have gently pestered so many and you have so graciously given, well, guess what, (there I go again with the guessing)….drum roll please…..you all have made the Pruitt Wondertwins the second top grossing fundraising team in the Nation!!!

Amazed, touched, moved, grateful, loved and loving, hopeful, fantastic and my cup runneth over….and yet still these words do not begin to express my overwhelming pride, joy and thanks to all of you. We are just $2,000 short of our goal but the contributions continue to come in and we are hopeful that we will get there, but even if we don’t (pause for gasp, did she just say that?) we are so blessed which we knew, but now you should know, just how much you have blessed other families. So thank you to you and tonight when you close your eyes please count your blessings and remember to add one more for the families you will help. Much love to all. Love, the Pruitt Wondertwins and their parents