The Girl With the Dragon Plushie
When I was growing up, there was a popular morning children’s show called “Captain Kangaroo” starring Bob Keachum. This was the popular TV show for kids before Sesame Street. And yes, it was productive screen time for me! Other characters on the show included Mr. Green Jeans; Bunny Rabbit who would always find a way to steal Captain Kangaroo’s carrots no matter how well he hid them; and Mr. Moose, who was always pranking the Captain. Another feature of the show is that Captain Kangaroo would start the first of every month with a birthday cake for all of the children in the audience that were celebrating a birthday that month.
Another feature of the show was that Captain Kangaroo would read books. One the books that stuck with me the most was “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown. The book was originally published in 1947.
“Stone Soup is a tale about 3 soldiers returning home from a war who came to a village. They were tired and hungry, but the villagers saw them coming and hid all of their food and denied them any lodging in their homes. The 3 soldiers declared that they were hungry and that they would make stone soup. The villagers had never heard about stone soup and were curious to know what it was. The soldiers asked them to bring out a large pot and fill it with water and 3 stones. The villagers agreed to help. The soldiers then began to list ingredients that would make the stone soup taste better if they only had them. And the villagers began to produce these ingredients from the hiding places in their homes. Ultimately, a delicious soup was made that fed all of the soldiers and the villagers, and a good time was had by all. The soldiers were invited into some of the villagers homes to spend the night before they continued their journey the next morning.
The moral that I take from the story is this:
If everyone gives what they can, even if it is a little, collectively it can benefit an entire community.
“Stone Soup” also reminds me of a story my dad told me about his mother and father during the Great Depression. He said that his mother would make large pots of soup and share it with the community. Every house would contribute something, or they would take turns helping feed the hungry in their neighborhood by sharing whatever they could afford to give.
Now, I’d like jump to 2014. You may all know about the book and the movie, “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” But I want to share a story that is unique to me that I call “The Little Girl With The Dragon Plushie.” And I have to warn you…I never get through this story without losing it a little bit.
In 2014, my son broke his leg very badly. He needed to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. He broke both his tibia and fibula bad enough to require surgery to put a rod and screws in it. You would think this was bad enough, but it was only the beginning. For two weeks, he suffered excruciating pain requiring me to take him to the emergency room on several occasions between 2 AM and 4 AM to get treated for the pain. The doctors tried medication after medication and I am thankful to this day that my son did not get addicted to one of these pain killers.
For weeks, I did not get any sleep tending to him at home, or driving him to the emergency room. I was not on good terms with God and I let him know it. I don’t remember the name of the physical therapist that made me take him to the emergency room at Stanford Hospital, but I wish I had found her weeks earlier. The medical team at Stanford diagnosed that the screws used to keep the rod in place were too long and were hitting my son’s nerves. They were right. Another surgery to change the screws solved 90% of the problem! The pain subsided and he began to get better.
This is where I got a response from God about my behavior, language, and attitude toward him. I call it, “The Divine Slap.”
My son needed a couple of days in the hospital to recover from the surgery and the only recover bed they had available was in the Children’s Cancer ward. First, I have to say that our doctors and nurses and medical staff are angels sent from heaven. They are amazing people.
Like a neo-natal intensive care unit, the children’s cancer ward is not my first choice of places I want to see. But I’m glad I experienced this because I learned so much. Again, a divine slap or wake up call. I watched brave little kids and teens coping and fighting with a positive energy that I wish I could bottle up. I also saw the faces of their parents, trying to keep a brave face for their kids, but seeing and feeling their underlying pain. With time, my son was going to get better. With time, their children might be gone. I was trying to fast forward time so my son would be completely better, while everyone else in that ward was trying to slow time down to a crawl. I saw amazing young people show incredible strength and resilience. They were all smiles, so why was I so pissed off? Their parents were so strong, so why was I so weak?
My son’s surgery happened on Halloween that year. One of the cancer patients was a teenage girl who made little gift bags to give to all of her fellow patients. She brought my son one as well. But it was a much younger patient that would make a lasting impression on me.
THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON PLUSHIE
I’m in my son’s recovery room. My mom is also there with us. A nurse comes in and announces that the coffee cart was outside if we wanted something. Since I barely had any sleep over the past couple of weeks, a cup of coffee sounded good.
The coffee cart had 3 main sections. One for coffee. One for juices and water. And one for stuffed toys. The stuffed toy section was the most popular by far. Parents and kids were buzzing around it. I went to pay for my coffee and the attendant informed me that it was all free.
“Come on, seriously. Where do I pay?” She told me it was all covered, even the toys. “Who pays for it?” I asked. Ronald McDonald Charities. How come I didn’t know this? The McDonald’s corporation was getting beat up in the press pretty bad at the time of this event, and yet, they keep something like this quiet. A tremendous gesture of giving to kids that are going through a hard time. Something that gives children hope each day.
As I watched the bedlam around the toy cart, a little girl emerged from the crowd. She was a toddler, probably 2 to 3 years old. She was bald except for two tufts of hair along each temple. She had her own little IV stand that she pushed along with her. In her other hand, was a stuffed toy dragon. And for some reason, she made a bee-line…right to me.
I will never forget her smile. It beamed.
She kept coming toward me, and her smile kept getting wider. I towered over her, so I dropped down on one knee to get closer to her level.
She stopped in front of me, and raised her toy dragon up to show me, like a proud little mama. She never said a word. I commented on the dragon in a soft voice, but don’t remember what I said. She turned and scooted back to her family.
I can still see her face. I can still see the dragon. I can still see her pride and her smile. What I don’t know is if she is still with us, or if she has crossed over.
After a few more days, my son was released from the hospital and we went home. He was recovering nicely and the pain was gone. The Stanford Medical Team had solved the problem.
I was doing my best to reconcile myself with my Creator, because I was pretty unfair with him. I told him that I understood the message of the divine slap and I thanked him for the perspective. I continued to pray for the other kids and families that I saw in the Children’s Cancer ward that week. I hope they all made it OK, but I’ll never know for sure.
Then, I saw her face again in my mind. The girl with the dragon plushie. Why did she come to me? What made her have the courage to walk up to a 6 foot 3, over 200 pound, complete stranger with that confidence, that swagger, that joy, and share it with me? It was at this time that I realized that she was sent. There was a deeper meaning. A deeper request. I am supposed to do something! But what?
I didn’t have to wait too long for the answer. There were 30 beds in the Children’s Cancer ward at that time. There may be more now. But back then, there were 30. It was mid-November. The message she was sending was for me to get 30 stuffed animals and bring them to the Children’s Cancer ward for Christmas. That was the message. So…I did exactly that.
I showed up on December 23rd with a couple of boxes of larger stuffed animals than what were in the McDonald’s Charities toy cart. 30 in total. A combination of elephants, lions, dogs, bears, and tigers. I went to the front desk and dropped them off. The hospital staff tried to collect my information, but I wished them a Merry Christmas, told them I would see them again next year, and I left.
They saw me again for another 5 years until Covid hit and the rules changed. But Covid didn’t keep me from continuing the tradition. It just made me change tactics and send the stuffed animals via on-line platforms instead of delivering them in person.
In an early podcast I spoke about Universal Net Worth. In it, I mentioned that we don’t always see the results of what our actions of good have in the world. While I was never able to see the faces of the children that received them, I know that these stuffed animals made a difference to those kids and their families. Whether it gave them hope for one more day, one more hour, one more minute. Whether it gave them something to hug to endure the pain. Maybe it even gave the surviving families member of those who have passed something to hug or remember them. All I know is that I saw with my own eyes, what these stuffed toys do for these kids, so I know it makes a difference. And that makes me feel incredible. And, makes me want to do it on a larger scale.
And this is where we come back to the story of “Stone Soup.” I need to rally a community.
I want to have a donation event and collect stuffed animals to donate to one or many Childrens Hospitals for their patients. I’ve learned that most donations are made around Christmas time, so I want to do something off-cycle. This is where I need your help!
If you know of any contacts that work at any of the following places, please get in touch with me via the Contact section on the Gotta Look Up website at www.gottalookup.com.
Anyone who works for, or has connections at, Children’s Hospital, particularly in the Los Angeles area, or San Jose area.
Anyone who works for, or has connections at, a toy manufacturing company that makes stuffed animals.
Anyone who would be willing to offer a venue for free, or highly discounted, as a donation center or to host an event.
Any contacts at companies that you think might be willing to sponsor this type of an event.
Any ideas you might have if I’m missing something!
Again, please contact me via DM on Instagram or via gottalookup.com.
I will continue to keep you posted on this as we make progress. Let’s touch some lives in a positive way! Let’s make some kids smile and give them hope! Let’s make some Stone Soup?
I LOVE YOU GUYS!
GOTTA LOOK UP!
PEACE!