Thursday, September 23, 2010

Cast Away!!!

That, my friends, is the tiny piece of hardware placed in Emily's right femur and hip during her Superhip procedure six weeks ago. That x-ray was taken yesterday. Last night at about 10:50 PM, Dr. Paley e-mailed us the ok to remove her cast for good and begin weight-bearing and physical therapy. And there was much rejoicing. If I had more time, I would go into great detail about our plans for a nice retirement ceremony for this stupid, clam-shell, urine-stanked brace (think a large open field, safety goggles and three sticks of dynamite) but I don't. So, instead just think about our kid roaming free yet again. And smile a lot. Because we are.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

It's go time!

To say the response has been tremendous would be a drastic understatement. Kate and I originally thought we'd order 50 shirts, try and sell them and maybe cover the cost of a cheap rental car while we're in West Palm Beach for Emily's three-month follow up. Wrong. People have been coming out of the woodwork wanting to help in anyway possible. This has been a most humbling experience.
But now it's time to go to work. For all of us. So many of you have come forward saying you want to get in on the latest "superhip" t-shirt trend. Can do. Here's what needs to happen next.
-E-mail me (timtredwell@yahoo.com) exactly how many shirts you want and their sizes. We'll have anything from youth XS to adult XXL. Some of you have already done this. Others have simply said "we're in" or "I'll buy a bunch." Encouraging, indeed...but we need hard numbers now. Even if you've already done so, please humor me and do it again. It's pretty easy to get swamped. Remember, I'm just a simple gym teacher.
-Please send a check, made out to Emily, Kate or Tim Tredwell (whichever one of us you like best.) Emily will have her first bank account starting with the receipt of the first payment. Even more incentive to get your order in soon!
If you're local (in Connecticut...or you're planning on being nearby at some point in the near future) it will be $10 per shirt. If you're in the continental U.S., please include an extra $5 for shipping. Checks can be mailed to:
49 Black Walnut Dr.
Middletown, CT. 06457.
I'd like to order the shirts by next week. The sooner payments come in, the sooner we can get you the shirts and the sooner everyone will know just how superhip you are.
I will never be able to thank you all enough. But I'll try.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Happy Birthday, Gray Area!

That's right, bubba. Two years ago today, a blog was born. We've shared a lot in that time. Together, we've experienced the highs, the lows, the laughs, the tears, the clever wit and the inability to formulate a coherent thought. We've done it all! If you listen closely, somewhere, a Hamden High School english teacher is weeping quietly to herself...
And after more than 100 posts and almost 9,500 hits from visitors stationed at every corner of the globe, I feel like we're just getting started. We've got at least another decade of this, so if you know any good fart jokes, it would really help us out if you could pass them along.
In the meantime, we've gotten a massive response to our fundraising query. While we've always been keenly aware that we're surrounded by some of the best people, sometimes it doesn't really take hold until three hours after a mass e-mail has been sent out and I've had requests for more than 60 t-shirts, offers of donations, tickets to auction (really, REALLY good tickets too) and so on. And that was just last night! Well, today the requests kept coming. To say we were overwhelmed would be painfully understated. You guys are phenomenal.
As a side note, many of you requested a t-shirt because you're generous, heaven-bound people who just wanted to help out. There was a part of me that thought, "that's awesome, but they DO get a pretty sweet shirt." It was then pointed out to me that, apparently, the funky, old school font I had hunted for, e-mailed to friends, posted on the blog and facebook was only showing up on MY computer. Everyone else was taking a gander at whatever standard "times new roman" default font their personal computer went with. Goody.
But thanks to Cousin Sarah, errors were corrected, images were salvaged and our shirt design has gone public...for real, this time. We're still taking requests, and should come up with a solid plan in the next couple days.
Thanks to everyone who's been there for us and continues to be.

Monday, September 6, 2010

More info!

Can you feel the excitement? Because it's in the air!
Ok, maybe there's no actual excitement in the air, but I feel like there could be. This morning, Kate and I were discussing the financial details of having a child with PFFD, and started to steer the conversation in the direction of fundraising. We are fortunate enough to have good jobs, insurance and supportive people in our circle. But even with that, frequent flights and extended stays in West Palm Beach will begin to take a toll. While we are truly blessed to be in such a position, I would feel dirty just trying to set up a fund for Emily without people getting something in return (we could auction off time to just hang out with her but that doesn't seem right...especially these days. GOD is she two.)
So this is what we're thinking....t-shirts! Everybody loves 'em. Everybody wears 'em. So let's sell some! The design would be a simple, white, short-sleeve tee with a light blue "superhip" (as seen below) printed across the chest.
For those of you who have been playing along this whole time, you know that "superhip" is the name of the surgery Emily just went through this past August. For the rest of you, it's just another good way to advertise to the rest of the world how groovy you really are. Everyone's a winner!
I'm thinking $10 a shirt. If we have to send it to you, we'll need to tack on a little extra to cover shipping, but we can cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm sorry for the jump in price, but shipping's expensive. Take it up with the Post Office.
Right now, we're just trying to gauge interest. If you like this idea, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail at timtredwell@yahoo.com that says how many you want and the sizes. If enough people are on board, we'll make it happen.
That's all for now. Hope to hear from you really soon!

Stay tuned...more info to follow.