Hello everyone. Wow. I need to update my blog a little more often.

So, what's happened since January....um...a lot. So let me sum up. I decided to take on a playground project in January to help give some deserving kids in NH a playground to play on instead of a parking lot playground.  I'd never done a project like that, and I thought that the school needed it and that the kids would love it. Besides, like most dreams, if I didn't step forward, it would never happen. So, I began the process of figuring out how to accomplish it in January.   What I *thought* was going to be a short relatively straightforward process took me on a rollercoaster ride to acquire a design, funding and volunteers and get city approval. My outtake on the experience is that I now have great new respect for those heads of volunteering that get everything done at schools. Love your volunteers, folks, and be as generous as you can the next time you meet one. They are grossly underappreciated for what they get done and they get paid with smiles and thank yous.

If you ever find yourself needing inspiration for your own dream project, drop me a line. I now know more than I ever wanted to know about raising money for nonprofits and the sheer perserverence that it requires to make it to the end. 

The experience has definitely been an eyeopener- you learn a great deal about how other people think and behave when you take on one of these projects. I've met people who wouldn't participate so their *own* children could have a better place to play  - and for the strangest of reasons. I also encountered the most generous of strangers, who went well beyond what one would expect in their generosity.  The world is definitely filled with a tapestry of different perspectives.

Anyway, whilst in the midst of trying to bring life to the playground, my husband needed to move elsewhere, in this case, New Jersey, for a new job. Sadly, my life in beautiful New Hampshire had to come to an end.  I'll miss its gentle way of life and amazing seasons. And the snow coming up to the mailbox. And 6 months of winter....well, maybe not that.

...sigh...

Oh, where was I?  Right, the playground. I didn't want the kids' playground dream to die when I moved (because I was running it), so I figured that if my fellow volunteers and I could get it funded, then the they could get it built without me.  The whole process suddenly became a race for time - I wanted to get it funded before I moved - after would be too hard.  So, if I didn't respond to your emails this summer, it was because I had to buy a house, sell a house, organize and fund a playground, move, and get my kids into a new school. It's kind of a lot to do in 8 weeks. It's all such a blur that I'm not really sure what universe I was in when it happened.

So, how did it turn out? Every day since May 1st, I'd been at the school, checking mail, making grant requests, sending out thank
you notes, and doing fundraisers, anything I could think of, and slowly filling in that thermometer that everyone makes to mark fundraising progress. Towards the end, I was trying to convince myself that whereever it was left at the end, I had done enough. A week before the move, we were *just* short of our goal.  Well, sure enough, the day before the moving trucks came to my house to drag all my gear down to the Garden State, a grant came in for a proposal that I had sent out months before ... and that finished the fundraising for the project - over $50,000. I can't tell you how happy I was that day. It's indescribable.   I could walk away knowing that the project would get built. I'll post some pictures when the big "build day" happens. 

I hope my little story inspires a few of you to make some of your own dreams come true. The trick to making it happen is not to quit no matter how grim it looks.

Speaking of dreams, my debut album Firewisp: Seeker of Dreams is finally here! So go get it at CDBaby or iTunes.

Have a great day everyone!

Cathy