Washington DC

I will be leaving this Friday for Washington DC. I will be there almost a week. I will be working on Capitol Hill Monday thru Thursday to help promote the Global Conservation Act. I am involved in an arm to preserve natural resources for the health benefits we derive from nature. Seventy percent of all cancer drugs have their origin in natural sources. Thirty percent of current cancer therapies are derived from rain forest plants...and only 1% of rain forest plants have been tested to date to see if they might benefit us. Without conservation, rain forests may be forever gone from our earth in 40 years. I myself was treated with a drug derived from the bark of an Asian tree. I am passionate about conserving our resources, so feel privileged to be offered this opportunity to make a difference.

I am leaving a few days early, as I hope to connect with a mother in DC I helped find treatment for appendiceal cancer several years ago and who is now a cancer-free survivor. I plan to meet with her and her family on Saturday. On Sunday I plan to meet with one of the nation's renowned appendix cancer specialists. I also hope to attend a church service in DC on Sunday. I've read several of Mark Batterson's books and LOVE the way he thinks. He is the lead pastor of the National Community Church in Washington DC. His church service (held in a former crack house turned coffee house, yeah!) is only blocks from where I am to meet the specialist. The church service is at 10AM, I am to meet the specialist at noon...so should work out! I have one day free until 6PM, so hope to visit one of the Smithsonium Museums...or the Spy Museum or the Aeronautical Museum. So much to do and so little time.... Slim possibility I will participate in a TV interview on Thursday, Earth Day. Wish me luck with all of that! I'm a tad nervous.

I am excited to go to DC again. Funny thing, I went there for a cancer conference a few years ago, and was disappiointed the conference was in DC. I've never been interested in history or politics. I'd never wanted to go to DC. But in the end I fell in love with our nation's capitol. I saw the Washington Monument, the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial. I learned of lots of interesting trivia about our nation's Capitol. I fell in love with their subway system. I loved the Reagan Airport. Like Chicago that I frequent regularly, Washington has it's own personality, it's own character.

So I am excited to again be visiting DC. I'm trying to talk my kids into a family vacation to DC one day. They have the attitude I once did...DC doesn't sound very interesting to them. I want to change their opinion of our nation's capitol.

I hope to write from DC, but if I am not able to, I will write when I get back!