Make Your Wish

There is hope in dreams, imagination,

and in the courage of those who wish to make those dreams a reality.

~ Jonas Salk

I love the magical word WISH... I believe so much in the power of imagination, and know that all good things start there.   This is a special little piece today with $10 of the $25 cost going to the Make A Wish foundation.  My sister-in-law-to-be, Whitney, is participating in the 19th Annual Medical Mutual of of Ohio Walk for Wishes.  The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a non-profit organization in the United States that grants wishes  to children (2.5 years to 18 years old) who have life-threatening medical conditions. You can make a donation here.  If you are interested in purchasing this piece through Paypal, please email me at cori-lynn@msn.com.

When looking for inspirational words to go with this piece, I ran across this sweet quote by Jonas Salk, the man who developed the vaccine for polio.  Serendipity at it's best!  From the early 1900s up until the 1950s, so many children were stricken with polio.  (It touched my own family... my grandmother was left to live the rest of her life in a wheelchair contracting polio in her early 20s as well as my uncle who contracted it as a child.)  This was a very real disease.

Along come Jonas Salk, an unlikely hero.  Born to poor, uneducated Russian immigrant parents, Salk was an astute student who was lucky to study at the City College of New York, a school known for being a the break needed for children of immigrant parents who lacked the pedigree and funds attend better schools.  Interestingly, although the facilities were second rate at best, from this school in the 1930s and 1940s came more Nobel Prize winners than any other public instititution (eight!) except for the University of California at Berkeley.  That's a striking testament to the power adveristy has to fueling the imagination!
If you are interested in learning more about Jonas Salk and his amazing story, check out this article.  It truly is an amazing story.  I am amazed by him as well as all medical researchers who forgo the route of more immediate gratification in helping people to take on the work of distant dreams.



This piece is 6" x 6" and painted on both sides, with the quote above on the back.  I've added some magic 3-dimensional "dust" to make this one extra special!  A perfect little reminder to keep dreaming, and persevering!