Just Do It.

He's not just on tv. He watches it too.

​So you guys, every so often I get an email or a message on social media like this one I received on Instagram last week:

"You need some serious psychiatric help. Think of all the time you could be spending with your kids or doing laundry rather than acting like a ding bat."

Personally, I cracked up at the ding bat sentiment but that's not really the point. The point is that every so often, when I get this type of message, I have a definite minute or two of doubt...why am I doing this? 

As you guys know, I have reasons...a book, a project, a plan. But that doesn't seem to be enough. Sometimes, people just seem bothered by ideas that don't make sense to them. And when you're the one not making sense to people, don't you sometimes feel like maybe you should tone yourself down? Maybe do a little better to fit into the norm? Maybe not run with your semi-ridiculous idea?

This was kind of what I was thinking about when we pulled up to  Babyland General Hospital, which is a Cabbage Patch Kid facility, an actual place for the 'birthing, nursery, and adoption' of Cabbage Patch Kids. That's right...a hospital for Cabbage Patch Kids...it's a thing...and we went.

And I couldn't help thinking, as we pulled into the massive and beautiful estate that is Babyland General Hospital...this is CRAZY. 

And as 'nurses' checked us in and then we watched a CABBAGE PATCH KID BIRTH, I thought...holy crap...this is INSANE.

And then I looked around at these smiling kids, and dozens of Cabbage Patch Kids of every variety, and the specifics that were taken care of and the money we forked over for our own 'babies', and I thought...my God...this place is AH-Mazing!

And I thought about how people, including myself, probably thought this was a seriously nutso idea when they first heard it. Right? It is literally in the middle of Georgia and there is nothing much around it, making it its own destination.  And it's a hospital for dolls for crying out loud! I'm sure people had their doubts about the viability, and sanity, of this idea.

And yet, it is awesome. Had Xavier Roberts decided not to run with his ambitious and fairly peculiar idea, he would have washed up when Cabbage Patch kids did. Instead, there's this whole facility dedicated to keeping them in our consciousness. And lest you think my family was the only family there (and I did expect that, by the way), the place was packed. 

Coincidentally, we visited Babyland General just a day after I got that Instagram message. And visiting this wonky and fabulous place confirmed for me, once again, that sometimes, you just have to run with your crazy idea, regardless of what anyone thinks. Sometimes, you have to go against the grain, you have to take the risk, you have to let your freak flag fly. Sometimes, you have to stop talking yourself out of your weird ideas and just do it.

It's not just big ideas either. Sometimes we all get so stuck in the basics of our daily lives...what has to be done, what needs to be accomplished...that we forget to get a little crazy. We don't just forget. We make the decision not to remember. 

Today, it poured in Florida. (I'm in Florida, btw). And we were visiting some friends and all the kids thought it would be a great idea to go jump in the trampoline in the rain. And then go in the hot tub. And maybe spray each other with hoses and throw balls all around while they were at it.

And as a responsible adult, I didn't think it was a great idea. We didn't have extra clothes. They could slide. It wasn't practical.

I am SO glad they didn't listen to me and made the obvious argument that they could simply dry off. ​And so the wacky and wonky idea won, and we were all so much the better for it.

Sometimes, you have to just do it. Do that crazy fun thing that may take more guts or nerve or verve than you think you have in you and just see what happens. It might turn out to be the best thing you've ever done. 

Just do it. I'll be trying from this end.

​XO...Danielle