The Darkness Around Us Is Deep: Solstice and Game Night

On this longest night of the year, I'm packing up games and working on a strategic grocery store run for community game night.

As twilight falls in early afternoon, my mind swims through events from earlier this year (originally written on Twitter).

Let me tell you a love story from last night:

We were running a large board game event raising money for @RileyChildrens. The lights blinked on and off- and some of them failed when a LIVE power line near us went down. We had just started a massive team Wits and Wagers trivia game when the hall plunged into darkness.

A cell phone flashlight flipped on. And then a few more. They swiveled like footlights toward the game boards. As we kept playing, a congregant who had just provided us all dinner filled trays with voitives and stick candles. And soon people were distributing these tiny lights to all the tables. People made jokes about romance.

We kept playing.

Thanks @OgeeEverett, for sharing the picture: https://t.co/25bbqZcwQh

After a long while, the power resumed. I was really relieved that the hall hadn't just emptied out. Everyone was still there buying stuff and donating to @RileyKids. Helping- bringing small lights, sharing illumination.

It was a lot like...

when our daughter was having serious health issues. I felt pretty lost in the dark then. And someone else gave a little light to show the way. Then a few. Then many- each person bringing what they had to contribute or...

amplifying the light of others even when they couldn't produce any themselves. I never had to find a light myself, but could focus on the tasks at hand and continuing life already in progress.

It took me back to the gratitude and community support that is #WhyIExtraLife, #WhyWeExtraLife. In the dark and candlelight, I fell in love with my community all over again. Thanks, friends for being the light and sharing the light of others.

On this long night of winter solstice it is very fitting to be back in the warm illumination of friends and community.

Thank you for being a light in the darkness.

 

 Take a moment on this long, dark night and think of those who bring light into this world.

Thank them if you can.

Love to you all.

***Baby Toolkit is the slapdash writing of a midwestern literature geek who was making a William Stafford reference in the title. Read the whole wonderful poem here: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/58264/a-ritual-to-read-to-each-other. I'm an Amazon affiliate- so I profit from purchases made through Amazon links. Yes, this does make me uneasy. This writing is mine (c)babytoolkit.com 2018. Thanks for reading the fine print.

Fighting Monsters: Extra Life 2014

Next weekend, Jim, Ranger and I will fight some real-world monsters in our third annual Extra-Life board game marathon for Riley Hospital for Childen who gave our Rogue a life-saving cranial surgery in 2012.

Rogue is doing great these days, and we want to help other families who are going through heavy medical concerns like injuries, illnesses and developmental needs.

Riley is a special hospital where kids and their parents are cared for together. My eyes tear up when I remember the parent cart that circulates the hospital dispensing toiletries and other small items for caregivers staying with a patient. The smallest things are monumental when you don't want to leave an infant's bedside even for a moment.

If you want to change a life with your donation, Riley Hospital for Children is a great choice. Not only are they healing kids from Indiana and the rest of the world, they also contribute important research to the global medical community.

Please consider donating to Riley Hospital during Extra Life. Even spare change, added to other's spare change, will change lives for the better.

As an added incentive, if my fundraising goal is met by Sunday, October 25th at 6PM, Jim and I will live-tweet the 1982 made-for-TV movie Mazes and Monsters over Halloween weekend. 

One randomly drawn donor with a Mazes and Monsters note attached to their donation will win our second-hand copy of the movie! I will mail the DVD to the winner or the winner's designee (offer limited to the United States; substitution of Amazon Instant Watch Credit may also be available).

Please help me reach my goal for Riley kids and their families.

How bad is Mazes and Monsters?

That bad. And yes, that's Tom Hanks. We may own the only copy of the movie he hasn't personally purchased and destroyed.

Why is he screaming?
Well, not to spoil anything, I suspect it may be the hats...

Or scenes about painting miniatures...

Share some serious joy- donate to Riley today! Don't forget to note Mazes and Monsters if you want at a chance at the DVD!

Together we can slay real monsters!

***Baby Toolkit is the epistolary adventures of some geek parents and their family.  We're Amazon associates, so if you click on any Amazon links, a small portion of their profits comes to us. We use those funds to keep the digital homefires burning. We have no relationship with whoever produced or distributed this laughably bad film. You can also find us using our big people voices at GreatBigTable.com, a podcast about board games and the communities they inspire. Thanks for reading the fine print.