After just getting home from a basketball game watching people cheer and smile and wave pom-poms, I’m mega-annoyed that my cat, Bobbin, is seemingly doing everything in her power to cause mass destruction of the house. I’m wishing that she could tell me what was wrong and that the hyper effects of the largest and most expensive Diet Coke would go away so I could sleep. I’m not comforted by the facts that I have “Jump Around” by House of Pain in my head after a particularly slow half-time show involving musical chairs and came home with my own souvenir cup.

I am, however, comforted by the fact that the craft community has come together again to help the victims of the current brushfires in Australia, with the fatality count right now at 173 and climbing. Thanks to a tip from Rayna, I learned that there are an increasing number of items on sale over at Etsy with proceeds going to benefit bushfire victims.

It’s hard to go to sleep some nights, even without the added kick of caffeine, thinking that we are all caught somewhere in that balance between beautiful and horrible…and that the only thing I have to worry about tonight is if my cat will wake me up. I’m not faced with war or genocide or hunger or drought or domestic violence or homelessness or any of the long laundry list of things that could be wrong. There are those that I love and those that my loved ones love who are affected by some of those things, but hopefully, tonight will be quiet in our little world.

If I’m lucky, I’ll wake up to coffee brewing and a sleepy cat by my side, warmed by my duvet and the sun coming in the window. Then I’ll get up and turn on the news and see that the bushfire destruction has worsened while I was asleep and that troops somewhere far and most likely sandy have been killed and more children than I can count have died due to hunger or thirst. And then I’ll roll up my shirtsleeves and work and do a few tiny things that will hopefully benefit someone’s day. And I’ll hope that each thing I do, no matter how tiny, will cause good. Then I’ll go back to sleep and wake up to coffee and the cat and the news and more work and more tiny good things, if I’m lucky.

And I’ll be humbled and honored and energized by the fact that all over the world, there are people making things and doing things to make the days and nights better for the unlucky. It will make me continue to move forward with hope and love despite the news and the bad days. With the crafters, the artists, the volunteers, the teachers, the dreamers, the soldiers I keep doing the tiny things and fighting in the hope that I can make someone else’s day lucky, too.