An unfocused post about everything I've read in the last two days

I'm not even PMS-ing, but I have spent far too much time crying between last night and this morning. Last night, I read this article from the June issue of Real Simple about Ann Lee Hussey's mission to immunize children in third-world countries from preventable diseases such as polio. Hussey's own struggles as a polio victim pulled at my heart strings, but I didn't start bawling until I read about Uma, a polio victim in Nigeria who had to crawl around on all fours to get around.

Uma couldn't go to school because it was eight miles away. So, what did Ann do? She hounded the local government until they built a school nearby, and now Uma can go to school every day. Go Ann. Another thing I learned? Two million babies and children die each year of preventable diseases worldwide because of a lack of vaccines. Unacceptable. Today, I'll be donating to ShotatLife.org, where $20 immunizes one child in a developing country against polio, measles, diarrhea, and pneumonia.

Then, this morning, I was browsing through my frequently-read blogs, and saw this. I clicked on the story about Jack's unexpected death, and I just kept thinking "No one should ever have to lose a child." I send this family a hug from deep down in my heart because I can't even imagine...nope, I can't even imagine. Please send a lot of love to Jack's family today. I don't even know them, but I'm sure they could use it.

Now, so as to not completely ruin your day, I should say that I've had an equal amount of laughs in the same period of time. This post from Momastery is a pretty unusual story about vaginas that had me laughing out loud. I really don't know what I'd do if my kid said, "No, it's my turn to go in the vagina!" I also got a kick out of this article written by a dad for moms about raising boys the from The Good Men Project. Tom Matlack has it right--a bad day can turn into a wonderful day if little boys have a good poo. I also like his list of 25 Things I Want My Sons to Know published by The Huff.

After reading Matlack's two articles, I was finally able to put to words how I feel about my child and every child I see: Children don't ask to be brought into the world. They don't ask to have you as a parent. They don't have a choice whether they are born into wealth or poverty or given to a loving family or an abusive one. They can't stand up for themselves, so we have to make the right choices for them and be good to them and teach them to be good people. So, as Matlack says, sit by the toilet and have a leisurely talk about poo with your kid if that's what he wants, and hug often (after washing your hands).