Wednesday, July 20, 2011

And Now For A Little Fresh Air

I'll admit it - I've been sulking.  My summer isn't shaping up quite as I had envisioned it (I blame Larry, as he steadfastly refuses to buy me a summer home on Martha's Vineyard) and I started feeling sorry for myself, being trapped in our current hellhole of heat and humidity while EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WHOLE WORLD gets to spend a week or two or three at the beach or a mountain lake or whatever.

And then I got this email from someone named Sara Wilson.  She works for the Fresh Air Fund, placing inner-city kids with suburban families like mine. Sara says that there are still many children on her waiting list, kids who would consider it a really neat treat to spend a week or two living in what I term a hellhole, going to the pool and eating popsicles and playing outside on one of the 3000 old scooters we have lying around the house.  And if it got too hot outside? Why, they would probably be thrilled to spend some time in our air-conditioned abode, playing Othello or Legos or whatever we might happen to have going on.  They wouldn't be averse to a trip to the library, either, or to the bakery that hands out huge samples of yummy bread to everyone who comes in.

We have trees - this might just work...
Yes, we're spoiled.  So spoiled we can't even appreciate what we have and how other children would love to have a piece of that.  I'm thinking it might teach my kids a valuable lesson to see how happy their lives can make other, less privileged, children.  Of course, I'd first have to get over my inordinate fear of other people's children.  But I'm working on it.  In the meantime, if any of you folks can find it in your hearts to share a week of your own boring summer with someone else's child, just toodle on over to Sara's website and see what you can do.

Jennifer Jo?  Have you anything to add? (That link looks like it is about zucchini bread, but there's more.)

4 comments:

  1. You say it well! (Thank you!) I have nothing to add.

    Except...are you going to do it? Yes? Yes??

    And if it makes you feel any better, I'm not going on any vacations either, unless you count my 3-day trip to NYC to fetch a busload of Fresh Air kids a vacation. It's not even 7 am and my oven is cranked up to 450 degrees (there's this corn salad I'm sweating after) and the fans are running. My husband will be on a roof all day today---I'm hoping he doesn't pass out and fall off. And I might take the kids to Barnes and Noble for a couple hours of cool literature.

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  2. AnonymousJuly 21, 2011

    Our friends just did this for a brother and sister--it's very inspiring.

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  3. That's really cool! Thank you for the heads-up, I'm wondering if...

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  4. I thought it was just me that had an inordinate amount of fear of other people's children! Good to know I am not alone.

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