My VIP Letter

Dear Alex,

We don't know each other but someday I hope we meet. I was just graduating high school when you set up your first lemonade stand! That feels like a long time ago.

Alex, I work with a lot of kids who are sick, just like you were. Honestly, sometimes, I feel really fake. I don't really feel the pain that kids with cancer go through. I don't really feel your parents pain. I have a little girl Lily, but right now, she is warm & safe in bed...for now, you are a pretty long way from your Mommy's touch. A lot of kids I have met are now far away from their mommies & daddies & all the other people who loved them & still love them.

Some days...it all just makes me so sad.

Alex... I'm not as brave as you. It matters to me that people think I may not be so important--that I'm too small to make a difference. Sometimes when that happens I think about how you didn't see a limit in size or beginning pretty small. I think about how you have made a bigger impact that the smartest doctors, contributed more research than the most published scientists, & raised more money than the greatest fundraisers...it makes me smile.

Someone at your foundation (which has gotten HUGE by the way!!) said that ordinary people can do extraordinary things & that sometimes the answers to the hardest questions are surprisingly found in your own front yard...solutions that are simple...like a little humble bright-yellow lemonade stand stacked high with cups & ice & a little glass jar for donations & decorated with homemade drawings, & staffed by a dark-haired little girl smiling her sweet smile (that's you!!).

Alex I wrote a pretty long letter to your Mommy & Daddy & their friends last year to tell them about all the kids that come & see us in Florida. First of all, your Mommy & Daddy miss you & man-oh-man, are they keeping your dream going girl! Guess what?? They gave me some money to help kids in Florida and Alex, it has made me so happy. It has made some of our families so happy--Alex, you gave them hope again.

So thanks Alex. Sometimes I feel like there is not really a reason to keep working on this stuff. But I know you wouldn't want me to stop, or be small, or give up, so I won't. Cause you didn't & you did everything you promised & more. You were pretty young when you started all of this, but I think you somehow knew that just 'making lemonade' was pretty much the bottom line, right?

So thanks Alex. Thanks for being brave. And kind. And smart. And deceptively simple. And most of all, thanks for visiting my front yard.

I needed it.

Love,

Emily