I remember when I was pregnant with Clementine having a heart to heart with my girlfriend Andrea about all the "what ifs" running through my head at the time.
What if my baby was handicapped?
What if she was sick?
What if she was a psychopath and would end up murdering me in my sleep on her 13th birthday?
What if she made fun of my outfits?
Andrea, who I have never known to be a religious person, simply said to me "I really believe God only gives us what we can handle in life".
My friend Lisa was diagnosed with Lupus about a year and a half ago.
About a year after that, her son Owen was diagnosed with Epilepsy.
Sure. Like Lupus isn't enough.
Lisa has always been one of my strongest friends. She's a supreme athlete.
In school, she was a straight A student.
She's pretty, a great friend, a good daughter, an amazing mother, probably a nicer wife than I'll ever be (though I hold on to the hope that she can pure evil behind closed doors), and totally sensible.
So okay.
Maybe someone like Lisa can handle the adversity life is throwing her way.
But the girl totally doesn't deserve it.
She's taken care of her health her entire life.
Why should I - someone who has been known to call a block of cheese a meal, drinks too much wine, self medicates at the first sign of any sort of discomfort, and more often than not chooses the Amazing Race over the great outdoors - get to have a clean bill of health?
It's not really fair.
I mean, I'm thankful that all that good karma I've been generating over the years is working, but I really wish there was someway I could help Lisa get rid of her Lupus.
It's not going to happen.
Lisa will always have Lupus.
Hopefully it won't always be at the forefront of her life, but it'll always be there.
Did I also mention she just had a 2nd baby?
Well she did. And somehow she managed (with the help of another friend Petrice, Andrea and their handsome husbands) to create something really positive out of the whole situation.
They organized the Ottawa Lupus Gala and Walk a Block fundraiser this past Saturday.
Brad and I took Clemmie for the walk, and later I went to the gala alone.
The always glamourous girl.
They did an incredible job organizing this thing.
Had it been me we would have had it in my backyard or something with three legged races followed by a bonfire, but get these girls on the job and the walk starts at City Hall, the gala is at the poshest locale in Ottawa and they raise around $40,000.
Truly amazing.
Since I went alone I ended up, happily I will say, at the "odds and sods" table.
I sat with some friends, but I also ended up sitting beside one of the photographers who actually shot our wedding.
For obvious reasons I didn't get much "get to know ya" time with her at our wedding, but I did this time, and I really enjoyed chatting with her.
Besides being a really nice person, she's a fabulous photographer.
Her style is photojournalistic. My fave.
She's out on her own know, but the shots from our wedding (which she took with another photographer - Jennifer Buter), when she was still with Reportage were amazing.
Not that I've actually ordered any of them...but someday.
A girl can dream of having an extra grand to burn can't she?
On a closing note, it's never too late to support Lisa. Especially if Lupus is something that's touched your life in some way.
Donations to Lupus Ontario can be made by clicking here.
Even a little bit helps a lot.
xo Em
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