I’m a firm believer in ESCAPISM. In doses. Escapism from the realities of everyday life, every now and then.
I’m not talking about drowning your sorrows in a brown bottle, or running away to the islands and leaving your problems behind (sure, it sounds romantic…but those problems will find you).
I’m talking about doses of forgetting about the bills, the crowds, the traffic, the 24/7 news media, the social media, the homework, the work work, or whatever it is that may be stressing you out.
Escapism comes in all kinds of forms. And it changes when you become a parent. I still need my doses of sailing and snowboarding. But now, escapism can take the form of a game of hide-and-seek or building a fort. It’s great. Having a child, and for me having a daughter, is a game changer. Things that use to seem important become so trivial that you wonder how it use to play such a role in your life. But kids are a lot of work! So yea….daddy needs some escapism once in a while to collect his thoughts.
But when you hear of certain stories, escapism also seems insignificant.
On Monday, October 14th, little Jenna from northern Michigan went to pre school complaining of a belly ache. Her mother was called because Jenna had lost right side motor functions. The pre-school called 911. She was taken to McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital. They confirmed she was having seizures. They did a Cat Scan and found what they thought was a brain bleed. She was then air lifted to Helen Devos Childrens Hospital in Grand Rapids, MI. MRI’s were performed and confirmed that it was not a brain bleed but two tumors. They did a spinal tap to rule out a virus or bacterial infections and found cancerous cells in Jenna’s spinal fluid. Once they are able to get her seizures under control, they will perform a biopsy on the tumors in her brain. Once pathology is determined, they will determine the correct chemotherapy and radiation treatments to best fight these inoperable tumors.
I can’t even imagine what the parents are going through. I couldn’t imagine ever leaving my little Banana’s bedside if we were going through this.
Escapism? Seems pretty insignificant now.
Although, for little Jenna, escapism will be a good thing. You see all kinds of stories about professional athletes visiting sick kids, superhero window washers, bringing in dogs and Santa Claus. It gives these kids some temporary escape from the reality of what they are dealing with. It lets them be kids for a while.
So as I type this out, and think this through, perhaps it still is about ‘escapism’? It just depends on ‘who’ needs it.
I don’t know how much we will be able to raise for Jenna and her parents, but the BUY. BUILD. BELIEVE. project will be dedicated to this cause. And suddenly, building a brand and promoting escapism doesn’t seem so insignificant.
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