Snupus Day

You may look at this election cycle and see nothing but hate.

You may look at this election cycle and see nothing but greed.

Racism.

Socialism.

Communism.

Mud slinging.

Lack of compromise.

Lack of compassion.

Lack of understanding.

You may look at this election cycle and see no hope for bipartisan answers, an end to stalemates, an end to this hostility and violent, sexist, nasty rhetoric that has taken over the media, some candidates, and the discourse in our great nation.

I look and see something totally different happening…and it’s starting with a horrible disease, two very different families, and a box of snails.

…and all of Erin’s readers cock their heads sideways and go ‘huh’ simultaneously…

On Saturday, somewhere around 3pm-4pm Pacific I’m going to pop my moon-face, ravaged with steroids and the side effects of battling Lupus into a chat with WTIC NewsTalk 1080’s Jim Vicevich.

He’s one of those conservatives I complain about all day and night.

He’s also a fellow foot solider in the battle against Lupus, and we fight together.

Jim is raising money to build the first ever Lupus Center for excellence in Connecticut. A treatment center that will help everyone – from raging liberal, to conservative, to those who don’t give a flying flip about politics, to children who have been affected by this horrendous disorder that has turned our lives upside down. Yes, I said OUR lives…Jim has Lupus too.

Now I don’t live anywhere near Connecticut. I live in Los Angeles. But nothing, and I mean nothing, would please me more than to be there when Jim breaks ground on this center that I KNOW will help those like us who need it- because Lupus knows no political party and certainly does not discriminate between Republican or Democrat.

And that’s where the snails come in. My children have declared Saturday ‘Snupus’ Day… because tonight, as I took my very sore body onto the patio to try my best to pretend to NOT be in pain while they play, they found a snail family. A Mamma, a Daddy, and two baby snails. My seven-year old daughter declared the Mamma snail must have Lupus too…and she MUST be getting better because LOOK! She climbed up the SIDE of the bug house and drank some water.

Snupus

This was a clear sign Lupus was being beaten back by every mother and every father…snail or human…progressive or conservative.

I need to make my daughter’s dream come true. I have lost 13 inches of my colon, my gall bladder, my cervix, my uterus, my ovaries, have suffered a stroke, a T.I.A., and continue to battle this disorder to KEEP the rest of my organs so my son and my daughter can find many, many more snail families on our patio and name them and learn about them and then set them free so happily ever after can occur.

Jim and I need your help to do that. We need your help in Connecticut and in Los Angeles. In my hometown in Michigan where I was raised and in Florida where my parents now try to make enough of a living to buy plane tickets to fly out to help as much as possible. And even in the wilds of West Virginia where my in-laws educate their friends and family about what Lupus has done to their daughter-in-law, how it has affected their son and their grandchildren, and how Lupus does not care where you were born, who you married, how much money you have, or how you vote.

Lupus takes a toll on spouses, children, caregivers, friends and family who love you and have to watch you go through something so horrible and yet that is about all they can do: WATCH.

Jim has found a way, in Connecticut, to do more than WATCH. So I am behind him 110% despite his totally ridiculous political leanings. (oh come on…giggle with me a little…) Because Lupus is NON PARTISAN, and when it comes to fighting Lupus…we are ALL NON PARTISAN.

And maybe, just maybe, if we can start with Lupus…we can move on to other things. Today Lupus, tomorrow the economy, health care reform, and beyond.

Yes, that’s the progressive dreamer in me showing up. But I’m not willing to give up on any of those dreams, and I expect you to honor them by at the very least honoring what my children have dubbed ‘Snupus’ Day.

Join the fight. Say hello to me via our video chat on Saturday. Go ahead and ask me anything from Lupus related to questions to politics, I don’t mind, so long as you donate to help make our Non-partisan dream come true.

Let’s find a cure for Lupus together.

 

*comments are OFF on this post…let’s not argue about politics, let’s cure Lupus