how often do I promise you something quick and easy?

I spent last night in the emergency room with my youngest son. While on his way home from a friend's for what was sure to be a gourmet dinner (sandwiches!), he fell off his scooter and broke both bones in his left forearm. When I got him inside and was able to take a better look at the situation, I could tell we were in for a long night. His arm was in a very pronounced U-shape, which helped me explain things to him when I pointed to it and said, "YOU have broken your arm, my lovely."

Unfortunately, I didn't have time for the second part of the diagnosis, which would have been "YOU are going to probably throw up right now!" because he tossed his after school snack all over the carpet before either of us expected it. Bonus!

As a family, we've been incredibly blessed to have healthy children. In fact, until just three weeks ago, when this same child went mano-o-vano with our family vehicle and came out on the losing side with five stitches to his forehead, we've never seen the inside of an emergency room. I'd like to think (hope, pray, make questionable promises to questionable individuals) that walking out at 2 a.m., today after this latest visit is the last time we have any medical issues.

I'd like to wish the same for other parents. Unfortunately, it's not always possible.

Perhaps you know my friend Kevin, who writes (well!) at a few sites, including Always Home and Uncool. Kevin is, I believe, one of the entries in the dictionary under the listing for 'awesome.' He's exactly that. He and his family work tirelessly with the organization Cure JM to raise awareness of juvenile myositis, an autoimmune disease affecting approximately 5,000 children in the United States that Kevin's daughter, affectionately known as Thing 1, was diagnosed with JM eight years ago.

If you know Kevin (and you should by now if you visited the link to his blog!), you know Cure JM is a contender for a $250,000 grant in the Pepsi Refresh Project! Did you catch that? Pepsi will give $250,000 (!!!!) to the top 2 individuals, businesses or non-profit organizations in August, and as I write this, Cure JM is holding steady in the top 2!

As you might imagine, Cure JM would love to retain their spot during the next five days of eligible voting (and heck, I'd imagine they'd love to move into the number 1 spot, too, but, well, sometimes being number 2 doesn't stink!). You might also be imagining ways you can help them. What you might not be imagining is just how easy it will be to do so! Now through August 31, you can vote three times a day using these three different methods:

• Send a text vote: Text 100850 to Pepsi (73774) (standard text messaging rate apply)
• Use the Facebook app: http://bit.ly/CureJMonFB
• Vote directly from the Pepsi website site for our Cure JM and its affiliated causes at http://pep.si/CureJMKidstoWin5

The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is check on my kids, say a little "thank you" for their health and well-being, and then I log onto my computer and I vote. Simple, quick, and for a friend and his child and other children fighting this. My new wish today is that you'll please take a minute (heck, even less than that!) and do the same.