ON THE ROAD AGAIN: St. Jude Children’s Hospital

Before I left on my trip, a little voice told me to bring along any finished baby hats I had. So far I’ve made about 2200 hats (no, that’s not a typo) – and I give them to friends, neighbors, coworkers, hospitals, churches, etc. Crocheting baby hats gives me something to do while I’m watching movies/tv – and, well, it’s just an easy and great thing to do.

   When I got to my cousin’s, I had her take as many as she wanted – but I still had a bunch. When I got to my bestie’s, I made everyone take at least 3 – and even then I still had about 75 baby hats. I’d thought that maybe I’d see people along the way to give the hats too, but I’d already travelled 2500 miles and hadn’t given any away.

   But when I got to Memphis, I drove past St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital – and suddenly I knew why I’d brought those baby hats along. I pulled up to the Guard Gate and said I would like to make a donation. I got a few strange looks (apparently not a lot of motorhomes visit St. Jude’s) – but after a few minutes I had a parking pass and was headed for the front door.

   As soon as you get there you can feel that there is something different about this place. I’m sure you’ve heard of it – and seen the Marlo Thomas ("That Girl") commercials for it. There are kids everywhere, and lots toys and things to play with in the lobbies/waiting rooms.

   St. Jude’s is the result of a promise that Danny Thomas had made to a saint years earlier when he was a comedian who was struggling to get a break in his career and living paycheck to paycheck. When his first child was about to be born, he attended a Catholic Mass and put his last $7 in the offering bin. He prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus for a means to provide for his family – and about a week later, he obtained a gig that paid 10 times what he had put in the offering bin. After that time, Thomas believed in the power of prayer. He promised St. Jude Thaddeus that if he made him successful, he would one day build him a shrine. Years later, Thomas became an extremely successful comedian and built St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus to honor his promise. St. Jude’s doesn’t charge anyone for treatment – and specializes in children’s catastrophic diseases.

   It was great to take a few minutes of out my trip to do something nice for someone. I left the hats and some Christmas Joy money – and it was probably the best detour on this whole journey so far.