Musician's Widow

Denise Mattox
Age: 31
Location: Nashville, Tennessee
Originally from: Central Texas
Education: Texas A&M University '03
Major: Journalism
Interests: Writing, Design, Photography, Music, Traveling, Reading

 

Make a muscle, make a difference.

That’s the motto of MDA, the Muscular Dystrophy Association. I write about MDA regularly here, and with good reason! My nephew has Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy.

Long-time readers and anyone close to me in person knows this fact, but for any new readers or any hit-and-run readers, this is probably news to you. So to save myself the finger pain, and to save those who have heard it time, a few quick past-post reads to catch you up.

* What do you know about Muscular Dystrophy?

* When to give. Why to give.

* Weekly Winners (Jan. 24 – 30) — From 2010′s Stride & Ride

* Labor Day Weekend = MDA Telethon

On February 4^th, I’m participating in the next big fundraiser for MDA with my family. The Waco MDA Chapter is holding their Stride and Ride at Baylor University. I’m happy about the event, but not about the location. But, I promise not to be one of those people who decks out in A&M gear from head-to-toe just to prove some sort of point. Whatever that may be. It’s about MDA. And the great work that they do.

Okay, so I might do this:

Ha!

Anyway, I had hoped to raise a lot more money for this from my end, but its like a friend said the other night, you can only go to the well so many times. My Nashville Family has been raising money for some of our members, and funds are tight as it is. So I’ve been a bad team member and not raised much money. Insert sad face here.

I do have a page where people can donate, should any of my readers care to sponsor me for a few dollars. Every dollar, five or ten does help.

My nephew is doing amazing, all things considered. When he was diagnosed so many years ago now, we all went through those stages of denial, anger, fear and finally acceptance. But what MDA never made anyone accept is “the status quo.”  They made it no longer about, “Oh hey, here’s what’s going on. Deal with it.” It was all about, “Here’s what’s going on, and here is how we are not only going to help you to handle it, but we’re going to help you realize there is ALWAYS hope. Because we’re making great strides in medicines and procedures, etc. that could one day cure your loved one.”

Those strides are thanks to donations from others. Donations raised during these special events. Donations raised during the Labor Day Telethon. Donations raised on street corners in small town America during bake sales, but because people care.

If anyone would like to sponsor me and donate to our team, awesome. And I thank you in advance. We all thank you. And if you can’t, I understand and thank you for listening.

I flew from Nashville to Austin today; its tax season again. Time for my yearly period of living in Texas more than Tennessee for awhile.

For the first time, I was on a wi-fi available flight. And ohhh how it mocked me. Only $5 to sign on, I clicked that connect link several times. Every time, backing out before making the commitment. I decided to just be happy with being able to watch my flight’s progress on the “welcome screen.”

It wasn’t the money that bothered me. It was the fact that I didn’t want to share my debit card information over an unsecured wi-fi connection. Call me paranoid, but I just didn’t want to do it. So while I stared at my Facebook, blog, Flickr, Pinterest, email, etc. links… mocking me… inviting me to come out and play… I came up with a whole new travel tip.

One of those refillable credit cards. If only I had a card that had a limited amount of funds available to use. I’d have not hesitated to log on and be Facebook chatting with friends from 38,000 ft. Well, if I used Facebook chat. But that’s a whole different blog post for a whole different day. The point is, if anyone snagged that number and “wiped me out,” they wouldn’t get far. A fact that I REALLY like.

So, a new goal is to obtain such a card so that if by some chance my next flight is wi-fi available, I can play online the course of the trip. Use that, too, for purchasing drinks, should I want one. A handy little travel idea that I plan to implement as soon as possible.

Started by the lovely Lotus, Weekly Winners is a fun little thing bloggers do to showcase some of their favorite photos from the previous week.

Visit Lotus’ site and check out her various entries, and find other participants. See some amazing photos brought to you by bloggers around the world. Leave a little love when you do — its like food for the soul!

 

Photos taken using my Droid Incredible or a Sony DSLR A230.
View all of my photos on my Flickr stream.

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I have yet to go to bed, but I didn’t want to miss Weekly Winners! So posting and running… but I’ll come visit all other participates later today or tomorrow! I promise!

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This blog has been down the last couple of days due to technical issues. But its back, and I’m still here!

I’m crazy busy right now between work, helping put together a benefit for this weekend, getting ready to head to Texas for tax season, early Aggie Muster planning, and just keeping up with both mine and my husband’s schedules. So, in that respect, the blog being down was perhaps an odd blessing in disguise. (And the irony of it being down on what I called “SOPA Day” was not lost on me.)

I saw a post on BlogHer that fit this time perfectly, and I thought I’d share it with all of my readers.

The Stages of Blog Failure Emotions by Rachel at Grasping for Objectivity

Read that. Giggle. And know that I was doing several of those for awhile myself.

But all is well! I am back! HUGE thanks to Chalise for working to make sure this came back up for me. Your support and help keeping this blog going on the technical end (not to mention a great cheerleader!) are forever appreciated and never taken for granted.

Writing prompt today from Daily Challenge by Me You Health: Share 3 small things that made you happy when you were a child or teenager.Think back to your childhood or teen years and share three little things that made you ridiculously happy. Was it making a phone call to a favorite aunt or uncle you didn’t talk to often? A food that knocked your socks off the first time you tasted it? A memorable trip to a museum? If it brought a grin to your young face, it belongs on the list. *I’m currently on a “Finding Fulfillment” track on Daily Challenge (a site that gives you a daily challenge to promote everyday well-being).

Childhood… when things are simpler and you’re clueless to how amazing the simplicity is. This prompt has left me filing through memories for a long time, trying to choose the best answers to share.

Books. I wish I read even half as much as I did as a kid. I devoured books like they were candy. And even long after I could read, Mom would read to me before sleep. No matter how sleepy she was, she’d read to me. As I got older, we transitioned to chapter books. I still remember when she read Where the Red Fern Grows and even my brother would come and listen as she’d read a chapter or two. Treasured, treasured memories.

Playing until dark. I can’t imagine spending all my summer in front of a TV playing video games or on the computer playing computer games. I remember playing outside until dark, and still not wanting to go inside. Swinging on the swings. Playing make-believe games, writing stories in my head as I went along. Playing basketball or any number of made-up games with my brother. Oh the carefree feeling of playing for hours on end!

Hotel stays. Call me silly, but I hardly remember trips to Six Flags, etc. It’s the hotel stays that I remember! Even though I really couldn’t swim, I looked forward to a hotel pool every summer. I wanted to jump in the pool the minute we checked in, and I think I’d have stayed in the water until the pool closed, if could have. We didn’t have cable when I was a kid. I grew up with CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS and (eventually) FOX. Sometimes when people my age talk about shows they liked as a kid, they receive a blank stare from me because I didn’t get the stations they got. However, any time we went on vacation and stayed in a hotel, I’d fight sleep to watch Nick-at-Night. Mr. Ed, The Patty Duke Show, and The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis are favorites of mine to this day because of those nights at a hotel.

I could list countless more memories that make me smile! This is so much fun! Definitely brought a smile to my face.

What about you… what are three of YOUR happy memories?

Started by the lovely Lotus, Weekly Winners is a fun little thing bloggers do to showcase some of their favorite photos from the previous week.

Visit Lotus’ site and check out her various entries, and find other participants. See some amazing photos brought to you by bloggers around the world. Leave a little love when you do — its like food for the soul!

 

Photos taken using my Droid Incredible or a Sony DSLR A230.
View all of my photos on my Flickr stream.

♥♥♥

Busy week! Not much creative photography going on, but I did do my first paid photoshoot! So tickled by that! Another positive step forward in the new year.

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