As you’ve probably noticed from my other posts this week, my treasured friend/workmate and I are in Traverse City at the National Cherry Festival representing the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan with our Big Brain!
This is such a fun, educational tool, and we had our first full day yesterday. We invited people inside — though honestly, most people approached it themselves; it’s big and puffy! — and we had incredible conversations with the gathered community. We laughed. We affirmed the crafts that kids had assembled at a nearby booth (lots of kiddos were carrying wooden boats). We taught people about the brain, epilepsy, and seizures. We gave hugs. We cried with some people. And in ways that were most touching, we witnessed people discovering themselves represented:
“I’m so glad you’re out here. My sister has epilepsy and is having brain surgery next month.”
“My daughter and I both have epilepsy. The schools need to learn how to care for children who experience seizures.”
“I was just diagnosed. When I see this, I don’t feel alone.”
“Can you help me learn how to care better for my best friend?”
We watched something else happen too: Parents walked into the Big Brain with their kids, and they became the educators. They used the signs to teach their own children about epilepsy.
We loved overhearing this.
The Big Brain is such a wonderful tool because it allows us to teach people, and it allows people to see themselves and their needs represented, cared for, honored, and celebrated. But it also creates space for people to teach each other.
So friends, whatever you’re doing, and whatever you’re creating — undoubtedly, something different that traveling around with a Big Brain — I also want you to know,
Sometimes you do the work, yes, but sometimes, you simply make space for the work. People walk into that space and join you, and it grows much bigger.
— Renee Roederer
Photos of the Big Brain.
Smuggling Grace 