STRICTLY POSITIVE

Lots of good things balanced out the bad this week, so let's get right to it. Thanks to Cathy and Elizabeth for pointing me to some great stuff.

Exhibit A:  Tiffany is a special needs student at a Texas high school. She's had a crush on studly football player Luis Velasquez since he asked her to dance at a 7th grade dance. She even bakes him cookies on every holiday. Luis decided he was going to ask Tiffany to prom because "she's a good person and she deserves it." He asked her grandparents for permission and even got the principal to help out for his special "promposal." As you can imagine, Tiffany is over the moon. They are adorable and Luis is a damn good egg.

Exhibit B:  My sister's partner Dave (that sounds so stupid, but can we even use the word "boyfriend" when we're this old? Hell, I'm just going to call him my brother-in-law, he's been around long enough we're all stuck with each other anyway), does a lot of great work with his community garden. They grow food to give to the food bank and other people in the community. He has a group of young boys who help him with this work, who can be something of a challenge at times. (My sister reports "One is scared of worms and the others love to tease him ... with worms). But it's fantastic to see these kids learning about growing food and helping others.

This same group of kids is up to other great things. They have been dubbed the "Puppy Posse" by the folks at the Tunica Humane Society. One of them carries the shelter's phone number and whenever they see a puppy or puppies that need rescue, they call. At the time of this posting, they found a little black puppy at a church and she is now safe. "No longer in danger, no longer afraid, no longer hungry, just sleeping away. Rescued." Wish I could give every one of these young men a hug. Aren't these faces just to die for?

Exhibit C:  I recently saw this post about 25 of the most creative sculptures and statutes from around the world, and there are some doozies. Some are moving, some are fun (Iguana Park, anyone?), and some are just plain beautiful. Here are a few of my favorites, but do yourself a favor and take a look at the lot of them so you can read the accompanying descriptions. In the meantime, if you need me, I'll be tracking down a shark for my roof.

Exhibit D:  Oftentimes in these entries, someone (or a bunch of someones) has to do something crappy before the good comes out. This is one of those stories. Premise: not all kids are Luis Velasquez. Ten-year-old Mackenzie Moretter has Sotos syndrome, a condition that causes intellectual disability and behavioral problems, as well as overgrowth in childhood. None of her jerk fourth-grade classmates RSVP'd to her birthday party, so her mother turned to Facebook in an attempt to avoid Mackenzie spending her day alone.

The whole family got a huge surprise when the birthday party was attended by hundreds of supporters, mostly strangers. Organizers spent 11 hours planning Mackenzie’s birthday party, which included a DJ, games, crafts, cake, BBQ and decorations. Football stars Charles Johnson, Vikings wide receiver and Buffalo Bills tight-end MarQueis Gray also attended, as well as Elsa from “Frozen” and Snoopy. Local firefighters gave kids truck tours and donations from supporters poured in. The mayor of Shakopee, a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis, declared April 18 “Mackenzie Moretter Day.” Bet those other fourth-graders are kicking themselves now. Mackenzie is adorable:

Exhibit E:  I can't believe after I mentioned him I forgot to share "Hammy," the greatest hamster in the world. Co-counsel and I found him in a house we were inspecting two weeks ago and we sat and watched him, entranced, while everyone else went about inspecting (i.e., working). This little dude would climb to the top of his cage and then proceed to do monkey bars with his front feet across the top of the cage, back legs just dangling free. Neither of us had ever seen such a thing. Of course, Hammy would crash and burn about half-way across, but he'd just get right back up and go at it again. Hammy is a lesson in guts and persistence. I had my expert take this video (it's why he gets the big bucks), which isn't the greatest, but you get the idea just how special Hammy is:

Exhibit F:  My nephew. Just because I love this picture.

Exhibit G:  As if there weren't enough reasons to love Meryl Streep, she's gone and funded a lab for women screenwriters over 40. Goodonya, Meryl.

Exhibit H:  There are, sadly, so many "bad" stories connected with sports these days it's always nice to see something good taking place, especially at the organizational level. Especially when it's a nice thing that impacts the organization's bottom line. Matt La Chappa was a minor league prospect for the San Diego Padres in 1996 when he suffered a heart attack while warming up before a game. He was 20 years old.

The heart attack was catastrophic and La Chappa has been in a wheelchair ever since. He has trouble communicating and even has a hard time holding utensils. The Padres, however, didn't forget about him. Instead, they've continued to sign him to a contract every year for the past 20 years so he has access to medical insurance.

Exhibit I:  If this doesn't make you smile, you might want to have an EKG.



Sorry, it was all I could do to get this embedded, I have no idea how to make it stop. But really, why would you want it to? (Maybe because you're getting motion sickness like I am. Still, baby goats.)

Exhibit J: Well, I had some good B stories to tell, but the pics are all coming out upside down and I'm now too peeved to fix them and I'm running short on time and have to get this posted. So you'll just have to make do with a couple of shots while out playing ball. I don't know why the color is all weird. It's going to be one of those days, apparently.

TGIF, I hope you all have great weekends.