The Today Is A Miracle Shop

watercolor v-neck in gray

The today is a miracle shop is now open! I've teamed up with my favorite graphic designers, Olive Lane and Danielle Burkleo of Take Heart to bring you two beautiful designs available in white and gray options. As of right now there is also a kids tee (in purple! my favorite!) and a darling tote bag for the library or a quick grocery store trip. These tees are a multi-faceted mission of mine! One reason is to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my kidney transplant that occurred last month, on October 18th. Another reason is to fundraise and give back to the community that has given me so much over the years. $5 from every tee purchased will go to the Cystinosis Research Network.

I've been dreaming up this project since May! I'm ecstatic about it's launch! I've been obsessed with the phrase today is a miracle ever since I wrote THIS blog post in April. I adore the notion, the reminder this day is a gift and it is quite a miracle we are all here, no matter what we have had to fight against to arrive right at this spot in our story. I think so often we can get caught up in the idea of a cure (whether it be for cystinosis, cancer, MS, etc.) that we can forget to embrace the power of today. 

An excerpt from that post in April:

I've been thinking a lot about different perspectives when it comes to living your story when a rare disease is a piece of it. Your normal is your normal...and no one else's. My health is only but a tiny facet of the entire scope of my being. I know that 10 years into one journey can, and will, look extremely different than 30 years into it all. And still? And still we are all so unique, even under the realm umbrella of living with cystinosis. I've never felt like I would be me without it. I don't loathe it. Yes, sometimes things are difficult...but that is existing on this earth. Every single human has their mountain. The funny thing is, it isn't even a mountain to me any longer. I think I'm more hopeful about the future than I have ever been. My life isn't horrible because of a lovely little flaw in my DNA; it makes me who I am.  It doesn't have to dictate anything I do (it truly doesn't.) Looking back on where I've been over the years and what I've experienced, I wouldn't change anything; health wise or otherwise. There is a tremendous peace with the current place I'm in.

If I could say one thing to anyone out there waiting for a cure...for anything, whether it is cystinosis, or cancer, or cystic fibrosis, or MS, it would be this:

It is a beautiful thing to have hope. It is a fabulous notion to believe in the future. However, I don't ever want to cling so tightly to tomorrow that I forget to cherish and embrace this exact minute. Today is a miracle, for everything it is right now.