I am going to drop off two Works on Paper at Printing for Less for a fundraiser. The e-mail from a friend of mine explained:

“There's a fundraiser at my work place for a coworker's wife (Carrie Kling) who has been sick for years. She has reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It is a disease of the central nervous system that causes intense pain. She needs to get another treatment in Tampa, FL which their insurance doesn’t cover and they have tapped out the financial resources from family, friends and personal savings for the first two treatments that she received.”

My sweet little town has a number of frame shops – all of which generously often donate framing of the piece. The believe the most one of my Works on Paper has raised in a fundraiser auction is $300.00 – that was for a museum if I remember right – not a lot but little bits add up. Always happy to help, the tables were turned last year after my own surgery. Paul Meyer from Vern’s Wood Goods approached me with the idea of a fundraiser – for me. Boy did that stir some emotion and push my comfort zone!! What a gift!!! The fundraiser (of course) was a gift but more than that – the opportunity to step fully into humility and embrace receiving was an opportunity to grow. Full of hesitation, I tugged on the uncomfortable tight-fitting, breath-constricting role of receiver and found that it quickly conformed and fit comfortably with the added bonus of WARM FUZZIES. Paul Meyer and I have never met but check out this quote from the fundraiser idea e-mail he approached me with:

“If you want to carry this burden on your own and spare your community the privilege and rewarding pleasure of supporting you, well, you will miss out on one of life's great treasures, and one of the benefits of being a free spirit. Don't stop being a free spirit NOW for crying out loud!”

He nailed me. He compassionately strummed exactly those notes which screamed loudest when I found myself struggling to accept. Paul Meyer gave me the opportunity to grow and feel. What a blessing. I don’t know Carrie Kling but my heart hurts for the challenge of dystrophy and the money challenges which add insult to injury at a time of struggle in her life. Have you struggled with the role of receiving?