on wednesdays and thursdays each week i 

head to the hospital to do volunteer work 

for the program Art for Healing.

i feel so blessed to be able to do this each week ... 

to hopefully make a patient smile, create something with them, laugh, let them know they are seen and heard, 

bring a sense of calm and release from whatever 

has landed them in that hospital bed.

i have had countless patients say things to me 

that will stay with me forever, 

lessons they may have learned, 

realizations they have had.

and i myself have had many realizations 

in my time spent there...  

i have realized as i go from room to room 

in the hospital how easy it is to take

our health for granted.

  i have realized that truly our health is one 

THEE single most important things.   

i have realized that all the material things of this world 

have very little, if no meaning, 

when you are lying in a hospital bed.  

i have realized vanity goes out the door when all 

we want to do is feel better.  

i have realized that if we do not have our health 

we truly cannot enjoy those we love and 

love the way we would like in return.  

i have realized life is short ... 

we never know from one day to the next 

what this life may bring our way.  

i truly have new perspective and a much 

deeper level of gratitude for each day that i wake up 

feeling healthy, no aches, no pains, no sickness.

please share with me ... what have you realized lately?

peaceandlove,

kolleen

...on your heart

my littlest little is sick...

she is miserable and sad and 

feels like she is missing out on all the fun 

her sister and friends are having.  

i have tried to entertain her...

be with her, cuddle with her, 

talk with her, console her.  

i asked her to climb up on the bed 

next to me today and draw in my sketch book 

(if she wanted)...

she pulled it out, sat for a moment, 

looked over at me and said...

"mom, i don't know what to draw, and i usually know."  i simply told her, 

"draw what is on your heart love..."

this was the result...

(sydnie 6/21/11)

when your child hurts, 

you hurt just as much if not more...

and if you could carry that pain 

and take it all on yourself....

you would.  

that is simply what a mother would do 

and it is what i would have drawn today....

it was exactly what was on my heart.

hope you are all in good health 

and enjoying your summer.

ox

kolleen