“I stopped at Whole Foods on Tuesday, excited to surprise my Mom with her favorite smoothie of all: Banana! After I ordered the drink, I realized that I had made a huge mistake and had to cancel the order.
The woman who took my order was very kind and didn’t seem angered by my change of heart, which made me feel relieved.
I told her that I completely forgot that my Mom is going through Chemotherapy treatments and can’t drink or eat anything cold. “She has a chemo bag attached to her for the next 46 hours and is extremely sensitive to the cold right now, ” I said.
“I totally understand! I have two family members going through chemo right now, too,” she replied. “Does your Mom like Almond Milk? I could easily make her a smoothie without ice and with room temperature almond milk.”
Ever since my Mom was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in October, things have been very chaotic. It never even occurred to me that I could make my Mom’s favorite drink that way, because I have been so focused on a million other things.
I excitedly yelled, “Yes, please! That would be perfect!!”, and introduced myself.
My new friend told me that her name is Natasha and that she loves working at Whole Foods Market for this EXACT reason~ So, she can help others stay on top of their nutritional goals & health.
Natasha proceeded to give me a long list of other natural drinks with electrolytes that will hydrate my Mom and settle her queezy tummy.
“My god-daughter, Diamond, was diagnosed with Cancer at Stage IV. It had already spread all over her body. She passed away at only 12 years of age…” Her voice trailed off and her eyes filled with tears.
I told Natasha that my Mom was already Stage IV, too, when her Cancer was found and that I was so sorry to hear about Diamond’s passing. As she made my Mom’s smoothie, Natasha and I talked about God, Angels and Love. It’s hard to put into words what this random encounter did to uplift my spirits and boost my mood. I was feeling very stressed about my Mom’s diagnosis when I headed into the store moments before. Natasha’s vibrant smile, kind words & compassion instantly soothed my soul.
We constantly hear about all the negative aspects of society in the news. It’s easy to go about your day feeling alone and smothered in problems. And, then, you come across someone, like Natasha Barnes, at Whole Foods in Madison, NJ and you realize that there are truly good-hearted, beautiful people who care, all around us.
I thanked Natasha over and over again for all of her advice and encouragement before leaving with my Mom’s smoothie. Natasha flashed me another huge smile and pleaded, “Wait!!!”
She then ran from behind the counter and gave me a huge hug. It may seem simple. But, Natasha’s actions were life-changing for me & a reminder that Angels are all around us. It only took a few minutes of conversation for her to restore my faith in humanity.
Hopefully, Natasha’s kindness, my Mom’s strength & both of their smiles restore your faith in humanity, too ❤️”
Credit: Amanda Sullivan
Don't worry about getting us a birthday card to celebrate #NHS75...
Instead, we'll be more than happy with you getting an organ donor card for registering to become a donor for the first time.
Confirm your organ donation decision today
❤️ https://t.co/6CaXmcHhh3
Happy birthday @NHSEngland@NHSuk. Thank you for your selfless and life saving services and sacrifices. What an incredible institute of everything wonderful about being British! Not a day when you're not helping people, saving lives or making a huge impact in our country! 🥳👏👏
“In one of the most notable moments in sports history, Kenyan runner Abel Mutai was just a few feet from the finish line, but became confused with the signage and stopped thinking he had completed the race.
A Spanish athlete, Ivan Fernandez, was right behind him, and after realizing what was happening, he started shouting at the Kenyan for him to continue running; but Mutai didn't understand his Spanish.
Fernandez eventually caught up to him and instead of passing him, he pushed him to victory.
A journalist asked Ivan, "Why did you do that?"
Ivan replied, “My dream is that someday we can have a kind of community life where we push and help each other to win.” The journalist insisted “But why did you let the Kenyan win?" Ivan replied, "I didn't let him win, he was going to win.” The journalist insisted again, “But you could have won!”Ivan looked at him & replied, “But what would be the merit of my victory? What would be the honor of that medal?
What would my Mom think of that?”
Values are transmitted from generation to generation.
What values are we teaching our children?
Let us not teach our kids the wrong ways to WIN.”
Calltoactivism
On this day 75 years ago Empire Windrush arrived, and within weeks, many of those on board had joined the NHS. This #WindrushDay, we want to recognise all our NHS colleagues connected to the Windrush's arrival to the UK.
Thank you for your invaluable contributions. 💙
We are proud to announce that our very own Mr Gardiner has been shortlisted as a Silver Winner in the ‘Unsung Hero’ category of the National Teacher Awards for his charity work. Well Done and good luck in the final. @TeachingAwards@ConsortiumTrust#ThankATeacherDay
This thread is really disheartening. Tech is not an evil in schools. We live in an ever growing digital world. We owe it to our children to prepare them for a rich digital present, let alone future.
I see the reasons why tech is so hated is schools. It nearly always is due to poor investment, zero strategy around digital investments & lack of training. That doesn't mean that the tech is wrong! That's on us.
I get it, I'm of an age where I was taught on blackboards & dry wipe whiteboards & I'd like to think that I turned out fine! But in 2023, not exposing our children to a digital world is a huge let down to them.
If we don't expose our children to tech & teach them good digital citizenship, then they'll only learn it through the wrong means.
To say "We used to have a tech guy. He was ok but we never really knew what he did. We cancelled the contract and agreed to spend the money on Fox’s Crunch Creams."
This is unbelievably utterly disrespectful to the entire community of IT Professionals doing an amazing job in schools in usually very difficult & challenging circumstances. If you didn't understand what he did, learn! Isn't one of the 4 C's, Collaboration? Work together with your tech personnel & digital leads, to help develop a working digital strategy for your schools! Instead "we ditched him for biscuits!" What a horrible thing to say & paints a picture of a very toxic culture in school. I won't even begin to get into the choice of biscuits!
I get it, we all miss the good old days. I'm the first fan of nostalgia. But until we perfect the Flux Capacitor, those days aren't coming back. And neither should they. We have grown so much as a society because of tech, we have made leaps & bounds in progression. It's high time to embrace it, not demonise it!
#EdTech #EduTwitter #Education #DigitalStrategy #DigitalTransformation #4Cs #Collaboration #WorkTogether #United #TechForAll #DigitalDivide #Toxic #Culture #Nostalgia #FluxCapcitor #BadBiscuits #Whiteboards #Teaching #DigitalCitizenship #Safeguarding #OnlineSafety
The Health Secretary knows just how strong NHS nurses are together so he’s threatening them with legal action to prevent them fighting against real terms pay cuts.
Please RT if this has only strengthened your support for nurses.
My magical moment today -
On my way to hospital work, I was getting a drink in a shop when I overheard kids speaking in Dari. They waved and said hello with a familiar warm smile. They were Afghan refugee kids from a local hotel I had visited before meeting them and their parents.
We said Eid Mubarak and I offered them a few small Eid gifts (a tradition). The smile on their faces got bigger, and I was beaming with joy inside, looking at them as my nephews and nieces. Then I felt very sad when they said they hadn't made any Eid plans because they couldn't go anywhere.
Refugee children need love and social interaction just like all other kids, not being locked in hotels or sent into isolation elsewhere.
Everything I own smells like champagne, beer and grass. I’m still somewhere between giggling and sobbing. This town and this sport is one of the most romantic things on earth. Thank you, @Wrexham_AFC ⚔️🏴⚔️
Y9 experiments with Ian Murphy’s imagery and technique, working on a textured surface of tissue paper, glue, paint, sanded down and distressed. Great results! EXCELLENCE INSPIRE #ianmurphyart#architecturalart#artistresponse#gcseart#aged
Since 2010 the pay of nurses has risen by just £5,400 while MPs have received an eye-watering £20,846 in pay rises.
Who do you think needs a pay rise nurses or our politicians?
#FairPayforNursing