I only just realized that there is such a thing as World Kidney Day. And it’s today!

As I’ve mentioned before, you tend to forget that you’re a kidney donor after a while… Okay, so, “forget” is not the right word. But you just don’t have it in mind that often.

Recently, I was reminded when someone found my name on an online list of willing “living donor buddies” on the living donors online web site.

I have to thank that person, because it made me think back to what the donation was like and all that I am grateful for now. I remember thinking through my decision to donate and all the “what ifs”. What if my body can’t handle it? What if my recipient’s body rejects the kidney? What if something goes wrong with one of the surgeries? The list goes on. You have to think through these things, because they are real. And, in the end, it’s a personal decision that only you can make.

But you know what is indisputable? It feels good to give. It just does. I challenge you to give of yourself and not feel good.

In fact, I will even offer you a way to give! … I am once again raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) through a program called Team in Training (TNT). It has nothing to do with my kidney donation. It’s just an organization that is dear to my heart. Since I was lucky enough to get selected in the lottery for the Great Chesapeake Bay Swim (4.4 miles from one side of the bay to the other), I decided to raise money for LLS while I train. LLS funds important research that will help blood cancer patients in the future, and a lot of the research actually has implications for other types of cancers. If you can find it in yourself to give, please visit my donation page.

I am only one,

But still I am one.

I cannot do everything,

But still I can do something.

And because I cannot do everything

I will not refuse to do

The something that I can do.  ~Edward Everett Hale~

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Early Spring Playlist

• 10,000 Emerald Pools – BORNS
• What You Call Love – Guster
• Every Time Katie – David Wax Museum
• Second Chance – Peter Bjorn and John
• Genghis Khan – Miike Snow
• Northern Highway – Martin Courtney
• Return to the Moon – EL VY
• Electric Love – BORNS
• Mojave Phone Booth – David Mead
• Breathe In – Frou Frou
• Better – Regina Spektor
• Birds and Stars – Elephant Revival