Pickle Mommy Love.

Pickle Weasels love their lil' baby gherkins.

Some emotions are universal...motherhood is one of them.

Tweet

The Devil's Klout.

Your Klout score won't help you be a better person.

If The Devil had a Klout score, what would it be? What would his topics of influence be? And would he be a Thought Leader, a Specialist or a Celebrity?

Tweet

911.

Yesterday the 12 year old boy and his friend were playing “Sandman” in the park. Apparently this is a game where you close your eyes and try to grab the other players. Yes, the boy nearly became a Darwin Award contender by giggling and klutzing around 6 feet up on a play structure with his eyes shut. Of course he tripped and fell down, landing on the iron bars below.

I’d just uploaded The Birthday Kiss and tweeted out the link when I got ye olde dreaded phone call. It was a woman.

“Your son is hurt, in the park, the ambulance is coming.”

I ran. As soon as I turned the corner I could see the flashing lights. Note to self: start exercising cuz you can’t even run 4 blocks without needing a defibrillator. As I approached the group of people crowded around my son lying flat on the park wood chips, my heart sank. I could hear him gasping for breath and crying out in pain.

The Huz caught up with me just as the paramedics were putting a brace around our son’s neck and head.

"Am - I - gonna - die...?" Tears leaked out of the corners of his eyes.

Lemmeetellya a million fears shriek from the depths of your soul when you are in such a situation. I pushed them all down, and focused on reassuring the boy and staying calm.

Ambulance ride. Trauma unit. Intravenous. Ultra-sound. X-rays. Morphine. The Huz and I held each other, watching our son and waiting...I tweeted at that point I think; and Twitter was amazing with the support.

Finally the doctors told us there were no big fractures, just lung and rib trauma. The boy is now recovering at home with pain medication to keep him breathing deeply so his lung doesn't collapse. He's watching movies surrounded by his pals as I write this. He's going to be fine.

But this story is not about him. This story is really about his friend, an 11 year old girl who showed true bravery and presence of mind in the moment because she called 911. She did so without hesitation as soon as she saw the boy was having trouble breathing. She didn’t call her mom first or get another grownup to do it. She did it herself. Then she stayed on the phone with the Emergency person and relayed directions to the people gathering around the howling gasping boy on the ground.

Stay with him.
Nobody should touch him or try to move him.
A grownup at the scene should call his parents.
Another grownup should flag down the ambulance when it comes in sight of the park.

This 11 year old girl deserves recognition. And so I’m awarding her the very first Pickle Weasel “911 Mojo” Award in acknowledgement of her bravery, quick thinking and calm action. In short: she's got mojo.

She’s a fine example to other kids and grownups of how to behave in a potential emergency. Walk tall girl, cuz You Rocketh.

Tweet

The Birthday Kiss.

Last week my grandmother turned 97. I don't mind telling you that she is really, really old. It's hard to be really old...it hurts. My mom told me that she moved the photograph of my Grandpa so that my Grandma could see it from her pillow. She turned and looked at it wistfully, smiling and nodding, remembering...she believes she'll be with him soon.

But not just yet.

I'll spare you the details of what it truly means to live this long in a body that's giving out, but suffice to say that my Grandma is brave, strong and a real hard ass when it comes to life. She's just not quite ready to let go yet. So the family gathered to celebrate her birthday, and although she was in a lot of pain, she did smile and tell us she loves us. And the youngest of us, my little Nieceling who is not quite two, got up on her tippy toes to give her Great-Grandmother a birthday kiss. Time stood still. The room was spell bound as the two leaned toward one another, the very young and the very elderly; no one wanted to miss the moment by fumbling for their camera.

So I drew it.

UPDATE - June 21, 2012.
My precious Grandma slipped gently away today. She is celebrated, missed and remembered.

RIP Maria Marrelli.

Tweet

#PickleWeasel poses for #TheTutuProject.

This awesome dude named Bob Carey does self portraits wearing a tutu in the unlikeliest of locations. He's made a lot of people smile, including his wife Linda, who has breast cancer. It's called The Tutu Project.

He's raising funds and awareness and others are invited to post images to Twitter hashtagging #TheTutuProject. A perfect fit for Pickle Weasel, no? The image driven stream is inspiring and it's easy to view in SeeSaw.

Spread the word!

Tweet

#DrawSomething - Repeating Words.

It can be kinda annoying to get offered the same words over and over in while playing Draw Something.

I always include Pickle Weasel in my Draw Something games. He was getting tired of posing with the "ruby". What repeating words have you noticed - do you avoid them or redraw them every time?

Start a game with me - I'm The Animated Woman!

Tweet

KLOUT 101 - How to be truly influential.

Yes. YOU are one of the most influential people in social media and can start a trend with a single tweet. Wow, you actually have more KLOUT than Justin Bieber!

But guess what? With awesome power comes huge responsibility. Now that you have this amazeballs Klout score of 101, what are you going to do with it?

Duh. Get the t-shirt, put it on* and then go out into the real world and smile. That is how you will influence real people.

And hug them. Your life will be better.

*T-shirt isn't actually necessary. But it is fun and cool in a geeky kind of way.

Tweet