T stands for Pep Talk

 I love to read our local paper. I don't read it so much for what's going on in the world - I have the New York Times and the German news for that - but I like to know what's happening in my town and area. Usually, reading the paper is not exactly a pleasure. Most news are rather somber. However, every now and then, our paper holds a real gem, and I was very happy to find one of those last Friday.

Journalist Kerry Benefield loves to shine a spotlight on local people, events and happenings. This time she wrote about a very special hotline where children offer a pep talk to anyone who needs one. 

Yes, I dialed the number. It took several times to finally get through because the line was constantly busy. Obviously a lot of people need a pep talk. I got a ton of great advice - "be yourself", "jump on the trampoline", "it's okay to be different", "ice cream makes everything better", "take three deep breaths", "you are okay", "be nice" and "you are okay for who you are". They also told me that I am loved and I also chose the option to hear kindergartners laughing. I'm so glad I did, it was so refreshing.

We all need a pep talk from time to time, but if it's elementary school kids it's even better. These are kids from West Side Elementary School in Healdsburg, a small town a few miles North from here in the heart of wine country. It evolved from a project that Jessica Martin, the lead teaching artist at the school started together with guest artist Asherah Weiss, "that would allow kids to dole out advice and hopeful thoughts in these trying times". They started out with paper flyers that were distributed around the town with messages of encouragement and resilience. Every student made a flyer of their own. From here, they thought about ways how to connect with even more people and the idea of the hotline was born.  About 80 kids were willing to record their own voice and the teacher recorded them with her phone. Talk about low-tech - and fantastic results. Since the hotline launched, it has been busy - the demand for pep talk is high. So high indeed, that a sixth option has been added to donate to keep the hotline going.

Want to try it? Just dial 707-998-8410 and enjoy.

Among all the horrible news from Ukraine, this was like a breeze of fresh air.

Since this is for the T gang, here is my drink - I usually drink my coffee while reading the paper. You can probably guess where I got this mug. Thank you to Elizabeth for giving us the opportunity to connect.

Before I go I want to share an image of an uninvited dinner guest who recently ate the cat food. The reason for the cat food being outside will be explained in a later post, but I can assure you that both cats weren't happy, but thankfully left the raccoon alone. The little joys when your neighbors' cats take up residence in your garden... (and just to let you know, I usually don't feed other people's cats, but in this case I was explicitly asked to do it - but more about that later).