Minivan Moments

Thinking about a few years ago when i walked into the bathroom to wipe the tush of my then-three-year-old son to discover a toilet full of blood got me thinking... about, well, blood.  Some people faint at the sight of blood.  Some have nearly-physical pangs of an empathetic nature.  Still others have a resolute, lets-get-this-figured-out-and-taken-care-of manner about them. Blood is the life force - the giver of oxygen to necessary organs, the circuit through which nutrients and chemicals travel the body, and a healer in many ways.  But blood, when not seen, is easy to think of scientifically.  Once it is oozing from the body or collecting in a vial, though, it becomes something a bit more... disturbing ... for some. That day, many years ago, the sight of that blood beneath my small child was a panic-inducing nightmare.  Turns out, he has a severe sensitivity to digesting dairy.  Cease panic.  Phew! Other days, while restraining my younges...

There are so many things in life we are led to believe we don't need to know... by the government, by our doctors, by the school system, sometimes by our own friends or our churches.  Things that people believe they can "protect" us from. But the truth is, ignorance is NOT bliss.  NOT knowing something has never blessed me.  You? I'm the one in the doctor's office asking, "How much is in the syringe? Will it hurt? Does the stuff have any side effects? Will i get better without it? Do i need it?"  I'm the one in the grocery store looking at labels, muttering, "MSG?!? Really? In chicken stock? Milk? In a fruit drink? Natural Flavors, huh? Well, which natural ones: cow, dirt, blood?" Asking questions is certainly something that i am compelled to do.  And it bugs most everyone. {smile} But it is by asking questions and seeking answers that i have discovered that too much protein increases a woman's chance of cancer, phenylalanine caus...