Clawtooth by Clawtooth Over and Over

Ram Dass, a pop spirituality writer, once said, “We are all just walking each other home.” It is a quote that has stayed with me since the day I first heard it.

Bubbles Clawtooth is walking his mother home. Bubbles’ mama has ALS, a neurodegenerative disease created to break hearts and spirits, but Bubs is too strong, too busy, and too needed to fall apart except perhaps for moments of silent screaming while driving to the pharmacy or grocery store. Because he is her child and her caretaker, he wrote that he feels like “the primary joy in her world which is both a treasure and a large cross to bear. Being strong when your heart feels like it’s shattering along with there being 24-hour needs and very little time for autonomy is by far the most difficult thing Bubs has ever had to face (and Bubs has faces some things darlings). It’s a living nightmare in one moment and a dear treasure the next.” Bubbles finds the strength in his love and joy in his service, but that does not make this walk easy.

Sometimes it helps when someone walks with you a little distance,even  if only in spirit. So I propose a Blogger Challenge to show our support and solidarity with Bubbles.

Clawtooth by Clawtooth Tiny Lion

So here is the challenge. Highlight three or more Clawtooth by Clawtooth hairstyles. Mix in some old with the new to demonstrate the enduring staying power of Clawtooth hair and suggest people stop by and pick up a new look in solidarity. This has the added benefit of boosting, I hope, Bubbles’ income which has been diminished by spending his time providing care instead of creating hair. I know we all want “moar hair nao”, but Mama Clawtooth comes first. And please post links to your posts in the comments so it will be easy for Bubbles to find all the posts.

• Designer Download Interview with Bubbles Clawtooth
• Clawtooth by Clawtooth on Marketplace
• Clawtooth by Clawtooth in-world
• Clawtooth by Clawtooth Flickr (in case you don’t have a blog & want to express solidarity)
• Bubbles Clawtooth on Plurk (in case you don’t have a blog & want to express solidarity)

Clawtooth by Clawtooth On the Edge

Many of us have sat by the bedsides of parents, grandparents and loved ones as we said our long goodbyes, walking them home. It is hard. To steal from Lucia Berlin:

“When someone has a terminal disease, the soothing churn of time is shattered. Too fast, no time, I love you, have to finish this, tell him that. Wait a minute! I want to explain…Or time turns sadistically slow. Death just hangs around while you wait for it to be night and then wait for it to be morning. Every day you’ve said good-bye a little. Oh just get it over with, for God’s sake. You keep looking at the Arrival and Departure board. Nights are endless because you wake at the softest cough or sob, then lie awake listening to her breathe so softly, like a child. ”

Excerpt From: Lucia Berlin. “A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories.”

Clawtooth by Clawtooth Erica

It’s harder, though, with ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases because the ones we love are silenced, in time, by the disease, long before they are silenced by death. Their keen intellect is still there, shining out of their eyes, but the words are lost, tangled in vocal cords that no longer obey. It’s lonely saying hello in there, talking to someone who no longer talks back but always knowing it is important to talk, knowing they are not only a silent body, but a listening ear and a loving heart who still holds on to love and wonder and life as long as they can.

So I hope you will go get some hair, stick in on your head, shoot a few pictures and say a few words, and grasp Bubbles hand while you walk with him and Mama Clawtooth a little ways. Say hello, say “I’ve got you” as much as you can. We are a community, we can lift them up with love and solidarity.

Clawtooth by Clawtooth Cherry Bomb

My parents taught me, that we are all in this world together. From the Wobblies “An injury to one is an an injury to all” to John Donne’s “no man is an island” to the Biblical “whatsoever you do to the least of these” there is a continuity of opinion throughout time and cultures that we are meant to be a community, to show solidarity, to walk each other home.

In memory of my cousin, Elizabeth, and her brother Paul, who died of the neurodegenerative disease Friedrich’s Ataxia. She was a year older than me and we were best of friends. We each named our best doll after each other, threw cow pies at each other, hid in the haw mow, swung of the big Norway Pine, and swum in the lake together. It was grand.

Clawtooth by Clawtooth Bee Bop Betty

****SHOPPING LIST******
Clothing: NYU Cut-Out Back Mini-Dress, Plains 6 color – hud
Skin: Glam Affair ( Lelutka Heads ) Ruth Applier [ America ]
Hair: Clawtooth BeeBop Betty, Cherry Bomb, Erica, On the Edge, Over and Over, Tiny Lion
Jewelry: (Kunglers) Cida necklace – 5 shades
Poses: aDorkable
Eyes: [PXL] REFLEX Eyes (M) ~ GreenGold
Mesh: .LeLutka.Mesh Head-STELLA v1.3
Slink Physique, Hands and Feet
AnyPose Expression HUD