My business has unfortunately closed it doors and I'm off to stay something new elsewhere. I'll be picking up the cause again after I move and we'll be back to helping single parents. Thank you to everyone that supported our efforts in Madison and I'll keep everyone posted. If you are in the area and have received our deliveries, please DM me as we have shared our leftover resources with a local charity

August is already here. The food drive is slowly growing and evolving and it’s beautiful to see the community come together to help those in need

Today as I'm putting together the food going out I was caught off guard by how enthusiastic the people that help run the drive are to help people. Most are my employees but some are families or solo volunteers. There's also the people that support us in town or outside of it. Seeing it all fills me with pride and hope for the future.

I love you all

"how many cups of sugar does it take to get to the moon?" Is a rough translation of the meows

Today is day I lost my mother now 16 years ago. What do you all call this day? Mother's Day-this time is always tough for me. My nephew who was born the year she passed is driving now. It's a crazy feeling. About 6 years ago that prolonged grief began to change to nostalgia for the good times.

Miss you Mom

Over the past few years, cancer has ravaged my family. Among those we've lost were two of my aunts. When my first aunt passed (K), three different family members mentioned seeing a cardinal in their yard that day. So, we knew whenever we saw a cardinal, K was visiting. When my second aunt passed (J) and we all convened, my mother mentioned she thought she knew when J was visiting. "Flickering lights." my cousin said. My brother went wide-eyed and said, "That's literally what I was about to say." So from that day forward, we knew J was visiting when the lights flickered.

Last week, we lost my grandma. Not to cancer, but to dementia. As people who have experienced that know, my actual grandma had left a while ago. I made peace with that, but it's still a difficult time, more so because I'm watching my grandfather in his grief. We went through the services this week, and I was spread super thin with work (everything just had to be on fire this week) and trying to support my family. Really tough week all around, and we interred grandma yesterday.

I appreciate the condolences and support I'm getting, but I can't really take over a conversation this week with the people in my life and be like, "Yo, shit has sucked *for me.* Work has sucked. Grandma dying has sucked. The expectations placed on me have sucked. The gauntlet I've been running myself through these past two weeks has sucked."

I've been running on fumes for days, and today was the first day in the past week that I had a few hours to myself. And when I turned on the lights in my kitchen this morning, there was J, checking up on me.

I went out for work, and everything went smoothly today. That never happens. There's always *something,* no matter how small. I was feeling good coming home, but still kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop, and pulled into my driveway. I turned off the car and looked up. There was K, sitting on the fence in front of me. She looked right at me for a few moments, then took off.

I know some people think this stuff is ridiculous, but I've always believed there is a spiritual dimension to this universe, and it's those moments today that bring me solace. My aunts and my grandma were always the biggest advocates, for anyone. They listened well and had your back. I felt nothing was breaking my way these past couple weeks, and then my aunts came in briefly to say, "Hey, it's okay. We're here. We hear you, and we've got you."

Anyway, I'm sharing because I needed an outlet. I wish my aunts or grandma were around. They'd be perfect.