Potential. The word creates thought us cliched phrases such as “he had so much potential.” and “I see some potential there.”

These phrases conjur a sense of failure, one of falling short of the ever elusive perfection that fulfilled potential entails. This is sad to me, because the word itself is a positive one, but these phrases are negative.

Today has been a day of potential for me. Maleena had a basketball game, I had therapy, then went to knitting group, then had a pretty awkward but necessary thing with my parents, and am now on the way to a birthday party for Maleena’s friend. Each activity has it’s own potential, and so far they’ve all been positive.

It fills me with motivation to work toward potential in other areas of my life!

Blood:Water Mission sent out a reminder that 40 Days of Water is coming up! I did this last year, and I’d like to do it again. I love that this year, they’ll have a place for us to log our drinks, etc. I think that will make things very easy!

The basic idea of 40 Days of Water, is that we, as a community of people with a bevy of choices to eat and drink, choose to drink only water, and set aside the money saved by not buying drinks constantly. At the end of the 40 days, total your accumulated savings, and send to BWM.

If you aren’t aware, $1.00 to Blood:Water Mission provides clean drinking water for one person for one entire year. So, say you’re someone who drinks a coffee each morning on your way to work, they average $4.00 a cup. $4.00 x 40 days of not buying that coffee = $160.00. You’ve just provided water for ONE HUNDRED SIXTY PEOPLE.

It adds up, even if you don’t buy coffee every day. The little bits we spend on soda, tea, etc all add up to helping give others a basic necessity for survival.

From the BWM Website:

FORTY DAYS OF WATER

We don’t think about it – really.  On the way to work, we swing by our favorite coffee shop to grab that jolt to get us started.  After a workout, we slurp a blended fruit smoothie to sustain us.  In the evening, we get together with friends over beverages to celebrate the end of another day. 

What if we didn’t have those choices?  What if water was the only option to sustain us?  And what if we had to walk miles to get water – only to have a water source that is contaminated and full of disease? 

Choose to make water your only beverage for 40 Days between February 17 – April 3 to help Blood:Water Mission provide clean water for people in Africa who don’t have a choice.
By giving up what you’d normally drink in exchange for the water from your tap you can save that money to help build clean water projects for communities in Uganda.   You can stay updated on the work you are enabling by reading our blog and Uganda project updates.

So ditch the morning coffee and o.j., leave out the lunchtime soda, and cancel the evening beverage. You won’t need an ark for this 40 Days of Water, but you will need a little self-discipline and maybe a few friends to join you. But we know you can do it, because you know who you’re doing it for.   Make the choice.

We’ve provided the resources for you to organize your friends and family to get the word out and help you keep track of what you’re saving. For registering your campaign below, we will send you two ‘reminder bracelets,’ one for you and one for a friend.  Also, if you need a good way to remind yourself to only drinking water, order one of our Blood:Water Nalgene Water Bottles (BPA free).

At the end of the 40 Days you can donate online or by mail.   Just make sure to let us know your donation is from the 40 Days campaign by writing “40 Days” in the comment section of the web form or the memo line on your check.

Also, tell us your story of what it was like to participate in 40 Days.  What did you experience?  What did you learn?  What is different now that you have participated?  You may choose to keep a journal or write down thoughts or experiences along the way.  We’d love to share them with others.

Online: DONATE HERE
 
Mailing Address:

Blood:Water Mission
c/o “40 DAYS”

P.O.Box 60381
Nashville, TN 37206

Will you join me in the 40 Days of Water?

I had a rather lovely evening last night, catching up with one of my best friends who recently moved across town. “Across town” doesn’t sound too bad, except that the Portland-Metro area is sprawling, and “across town” means the polar opposite end…45 minute drive with no traffic. There’s always traffic.

It’s rare that we get to hang out because of this distance, but we chat and text regularly. Last night was a rare opportunity to actually SEE each other, have coffee and catch up on the mundane and not-so mundane of our lives. After a delicious coffee at Silk, we retired to the Japanese restaurant across the parking lot for some delicious miso soup and sushi. Aside from the thermostat being set at a very chilly 60 degrees F (fine if you’re working, but freezing if you’re just sitting and eating), it was a lovely meal, complete with inappropriately loud laughter and name calling.

We then ventured BACK across the parking lot to the Salvation Army, where I nabbed several books for less than $5.00 total. One is a traditionally bound book, with a fabric cover and it’s old enough the boards have gone a little soft. It looks lovingly worn, and I can’t remember the title to save my life, but the story sounded interesting as well. However, for $1.49, I’d have bought it just for aesthetics if the story was boring.

After bidding each other good night, I went home, thinking I was in time to sneak in and tell Maleena good night before she dropped off to sleep. No such luck, as the girl was put to bed early (long story, but she needs more sleep, and I’d forgotten we’ve been moving bedtime up), and was out like a light when I got home. So, I took a nice long bath, reading one of my new books. Then went to bed, read a while longer and finally put it down when I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

So I fell asleep somewhere around 11pm.

In the dead of the night, our door is flung open, and our Meena is trying to get Matt to move over to make room for her in our bed. She chatters on as we try to sleep, and eventually rolls onto me and whispers in my ear “Mom, do you want to take me back to bed?” Um, yes? I can’t sleep when she’s in our bed, though I sure try.

We traipse back to her room, she bundles up, and I read some Dr. Doolittle to her. Three chapters later, I’m nearly falling asleep reading, and she’s still NOT ASLEEP. I finally say “That’s all I”m going to read”, and put it down. She knows not to argue with that, especially when it’s the middle of the night! Sometime she finally fell asleep, around 30 minutes to an hour after we went in there. I also fell asleep, and at 4:30am I woke up and went back to bed, pausing to reset my alarm for later, and just resign myself to a very short work day today.

Up at 6:15am, then on my way, realized I have to get gas before I could get to work. I did so, and FINALLY arrived at work at 7:45. I prefer to be here at 6:30 so I can get in a full 8 hour day before leaving to pick up the girl.

Today will simply need to be viewed as a treat – less work!

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