A Day 48 Hours in Purple

Well, that was fun.

No, really it was. A little tiring but a lot of fun.

Purple Day officially hit the Annapolis Valley. And it was pretty well received, if I do say so myself. So well, I can't wait to do it again next year.

I did an interview Wednesday morning at 8:10 on Magic 94.9, one of two local radio stations. The host of the morning show was great and kept promoting it all day long. And the other radio station, K-Rock, also did a great job of promoting it. Thanks, guys!

Then I scurried off to ye olde computer to try to put together what I was going to say for my presentation at the elementary school. Kit Kat and I had put her presentation together on the previous Sunday so at least I had something to work off of. But her presentation (including the five public service announcements about epilepsy and Purple Day) was only 10 minutes long. Mine had to be a fair bit longer.

But partway through putting that together I looked at the clock and realized I better skedaddle off to Video World to see if they could do anything to fix the DVD that contained four of the PSAs. The DVD that kept skipping. That made it look as if the PSA was actually having a seizure.

Fortunately they could but they wouldn't be able to get to it for a few hours. As in it would be ready to be picked up just before it was time to head to the elementary school. So I left the DVD there and stopped in at the grocery store on the way home. To pick up two items. Honest, only two items. $62, several bags and precious wasted moments later I made it home and got back to work on my presentation.

Then pack up all the stuff (between the two schools we had over 700 bookmarks and Purple Day lapel pins to give the kids and about 10 folders with epilepsy information for the classroom teachers) into the car, pick up Kit Kat at school, pick up the DVD and off we went to the elementary school.

We only had one class of Grade 5s to speak to but the presentation went well and the kids were full of questions about epilepsy. Made a quick pit stop at Subway for lunch and then it was time to head to the middle school.

I was so proud of Kit Kat. She is a shy kid. A very very shy kid. And although all kids of her age (she just turned 13) worry about fitting in and not standing out of the crowd, I find she really takes it to an extreme. But she had volunteered demanded that she be allowed to do the presentation at the middle school. Apparently some of the kids in her class made fun of seizures and that did not impress her one little bit. I was really surprised when she said she not only wanted to get up in front of the school and talk ... but also identify herself with epilepsy in this way.

Well, get up and speak she did. And she did a great job!

I could tell the principal was impressed when not only did he ask the kids before she spoke to think about what it would feel like for one of them to get up in front of their peers, in front of the whole school, and talk but also after she was done, he had thanked her and made some announcements, he again pointed out what she had done and asked for another round of applause.

I must tell you when I walked in the door around 2:00 that afternoon though, I was wiped. I have been working a lot lately and I am my own worst enemy when it comes to sleep, I just don't get to bed early enough, and after all that running around in the morning, when I finally got home I felt like I could fall over. Fortunately I had an hour before I had to take the Blue Jay riding. An hour to just veg in front of the TV with my feet up.

Kit Kat told me that evening that when she was leaving school later that day she saw that the art club had transformed the bulletin board outside the office into a Purple Day board. When she asked them what they were doing, they said that she had inspired them. I thought that was so sweet.

So yesterday was Purple Day and I would say it was a pretty good one. When I drove about half an hour further down the Valley to my hair appointment, I asked if anybody in the shop knew it was Purple Day. I didn't expect anybody would. But surprisingly my hairdresser did, she had heard it on the radio and her first customer that morning had also told her about it.

And when I went to the bank today I asked one of the tellers (whom I know well) if she knew it was Purple Day yesterday. She laughed and said she hadn't but she had worn purple. And when she walked in the bank, one of the other women was wearing purple and told her about Purple Day.

So I think we did pretty good for our first Purple Day in the Valley. I can't wait for next year. After all, I figure if the Calgary City Hall can have a Purple Day Proclamation Celebration, surely our village can officially proclaim Purple Day too. They just don't know it yet is all.

And, lest we forget, the most important thing of all, Cassidy, hon, you done good!

Cassidy Megan smiles as she is presented with a purple bouquet
by classmates during an assembly marking Purple Day
at Atlantic Memorial Terence Bay School in Shad Bay on Thursday.
Cassidy, a Grade 4 student who has epilepsy, created the day
at the school last year to raise awareness of the condition that she
and thousands of other Canadians have. Since that time, Purple Day
has caught on internationally. (TIM KROCHAK / Staff)