Booty and the Honk
Once upon a time there was a busy mother with too much stuff to do, but a niggling feeling that she still wasn't doing as much as she could to help those who weren't as fortunate as her...
She had a problem: she wanted to find a way to help lots and lots of people in need, but she didn't have much time. And her two lovely children, and husband, and friends also needed her attention...
So she decided to join Team Honk again, banding together with other amazing slightly-too-busy people, to raise money for Comic Relief under the expert guidance of Tanya, Penny and Annie by joining in with an inspirational danceathon. And she got together with some more lovely blogging friends, Amy and Tracy, to encourage others to #honkfromhome and let their kids dress them to raise more money for Comic Relief with #mykidsdressedme - most of this encouragement she could do from behind her computer and on the school run, so it fitted very well into her busy life. By doing these two charitable things, she hoped to help lots of people without having to do all the helping herself...
On her journey she fought foes and faced challenges: heading into the school playground looking completely ridiculous on several occasions and attending the parents evening in a police helmet and a tailcoat being particular highlights. She also had to face being seen not just in the playground amongst friends, but then in the local paper looking ridiculous, and then the national news via the Mail Online - where it made it sound like she had done everything on her own which wasn't true and made her feel bad, and where horrible comments were left that made her feel full of shame and want to hide away forever.
She fought through being poorly for a local family zumbathon which was wonderfu! Then, when the big danceathon came around, yet again she got a terrible cold from trying to do too much. But she dosed up on lemsip and faced the long journey up to London to dance through aching limbs for six whole amazing hours. After the danceathon, she felt overwhelmed and exhausted...
But along the way, she also met allies and mentors... liike the incredibly inspirational group of lovely bloggers she danced with at Wembley, especially the amazing women behind Team Honk, who could pretty much inspire her to do almost anything! She was inspired by so many smiles and hugs and the sheer joy of coming together with all those other amazing honkers to be silly for a good cause! And of course her amazing mother, who stopped her getting shinflints and also let her dress her up in the most ridiculous balloon tutu that Wembley had ever seen.
What's more, #mykidsdressedme gave her the chance to make new online friends, and to deepen connections with those she had met before, through encouraging others to have fun with their children for a good cause. At school, lots of other lovely mums at school helped out to spread the word. and online, Amy and Tracy were vital allies in helping #mykidsdressedme to go viral!
She learnt how very lucky she was to have such good friends, both in real life and in the online world. And she felt very happy that - instead of the kind of people who might get their life satisfaction from trolling online - her life was full of lovely inspiring people who also really wanted to make a difference and were prepared to be brave and silly and to bring people together to do that. And that many of those people loved her for who she was. In fact, they loved her even when she decided to rollaround on the floor of Wembley arena with her mum, giggling madly while attempting to pop all the balloons on their tutus...
And in the end, together the Team Honk bloggers raised over THIRTY THOUSAND POUNDS for Comic Relief, with lots more coming in from #mykidsdressedme, and hopefully even more on Red Nose Day itself. And that meant that lots of people living in poverty in the UK, Africa and elsewhere would get vital help. Without her having to do anything else straight away. So she finally had a break and went to bed happy :))
