Gloria Gaynor and I will do good things for survivors

First let's begin with the Day Off song...
I have a day off, a day off, a day offfffffff....!

(For working Labor Day -- you know, the day that celebrates America's workers? Riiiiight.)

I've screened every single phone call today and I refuse to look at my work e-mail. Those are big accomplishments, because I usually spend way too much of my "off" time still working. Not today, now way, uh-uh.

I have some wedding things to do today -- busting butts of people who STILL HAVEN'T RSVP'd, for instance. Our deadline was today and there's honestly like a dozen people who are MIA. And that's AFTER my stepmother and aunt and Scott' mom made rounds of phone calls earlier this week. People have some nerve.

Anyway. After I finish preliminary seating chart nonsense and watch some mindless television, I'm going to do something tonight that I'm really proud, excited and nervous about.

My training to be a volunteer with the local domestic abuse/violence shelter and hotline begins tonight. There are 3 hours of training every Thursday now through Dec. 10, so it's pretty intense, but I think it will be well worth it.

I'm not even sure yet what I'll be doing -- answering phone calls, helping with court case witnesses/victims, helping at the shelter, etc -- but I know that whatever it is will make a difference.

My bleeding heart is one reason for doing this, but I also feel that you really can never help your fellow man (or woman) enough. I see so much ugliness through work -- fatal accidents, premature deaths, fights, drama and scandals -- that it's nice to know that there are people, usually behind-the-scenes with no headlines to ever share of their work -- who make a huge difference, even if it's only to one person out there.

I'm also doing this for my mom.
My biological father was phsyically abusive to my mother for years. He hit her when she was pregnant with me and made her feel trapped and unable to get out of the relationship. The things I remember watching from my crib hurt to recall.

But the one good thing that eventually came out of it all (aside from my mom leaving and meeting my REAL dad, the guy who will walk me down the aisle) is her finding a shelter that really made a difference. I've found numerous letters from her to family members talking of the friendships she had made and the impact they had on her life and her outlook on life.

So I leave you with positive thoughts and one of mom's favorite songs. It gave her strength, family members say. And she could never hear it without groovin' in the middle of whatever room she was in, big smile on her face.




*Please continue to keep Julie in your thoughts -- no news yet...*