Those ubiquitous rubber bracelets

It started with the yellow bracelet bearing the words "LiveSTRONG" that our friends Tom & Maxine sent to us for donating to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Tom and Max (before her passing in May from metastatic breast cancer) are active in the Foundation. Max was an inspiration to many fighting this terrible disease. We picked up a second bracelet for $1 at the CU Health Sciences Center bookstore so that we could both wear one and feel proud of showing our support.

More recently, Em and I found a new bracelet at a local La Leche League meeting. It is purple and says "Encourage, Support, Protect BREASTFEEDING." The price was steep - $5 this time - but all of the proceeds go back to La Leche League, so I splurged. Em insists that this is her bracelet. She allows me to wear it while she is at Preschool so it doesn't get lost.

Then a couple of weeks ago, the Deac attended a Conference called Fire Rescue International. He picked up a black bracelet (again, $5! The charities are figuring out how to use this trend to their full advantage) with the words "Everyone Goes Home" that supports the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. The band is black to remind us of the bands firefighters place over their badge when mourning a fallen comrade - the idea is to keep the black on our wrists to "keep them off the badges." The girls actually squabbled over this one, so he had to garner a second one at the Conference the next day.

So I guess these bracelets identify the causes we most support at this point in our lives? At the very least, it shows that we are not immune to the memes of modern society. It's amazing to me how these little pieces of rubber we wear on our wrist can start in-depth conversations about needs and charities some people have heard little about - but I wonder how long they'll be the "in" thing. So, of course, I had to scrapbook it.