By Jacki Rickert On Christmas
Day, as the adults kept trying to catch a whiff of all the great smells coming from the
kitchen as our tummies began growling, the children could have cared less about food. You
could see the twinkle of awe, that only children seem to display without a care of who or
what anyone might be thinking at the moment when wrapping paper gets torn off faster than
a bandage. All eyes are glued to see what Santa may have left under the tree.
Time seems to stop still in the aft of reindeer
tracks...no coal in sight..the signs of good girls and boys, at least according to
folklore All the adults are racing for the cameras, as you only have a moment to
catch the twinkle in their eyes before the opening begins. Gift wrapping (that seemed to
take forever) suddenly becomes gift unwrapping as if clocked for an Olympic event. Maybe
Christmas has become overly commercial, but as Parents, friends, families, & even
elves, would any of us trade those precious moments?
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It's hard to tell at times if the glow from a child's
eyes is brighter than the blinking, sparkling lights from the tree itself. I am sure, that
no matter how tattered or old the handmade ornaments become with age... those are the ones
that hold the most meaning, as does the angel that most of our children made in 1st or 2nd
grade. No matter how many beautiful tree-top angels we may buy, the ones made by our
Children always seem to get the place of honor! We all seem to let the portion of child
within us, surface on the Holidays. Isn't it GREAT?
Last Christmas, my Mother gave me a 2 3/4' -3' stuffed doll dressed in little jeans,
shirt, a baseball hat, tennis shoes & even a little stuffed frog to place in his back
pants pocket. He was adorable! After going to bed Christmas night, I had to put a hemp
bracelet on his little wrist. Still, something was missing. I must have spent two hours
staring at my "little dude" and thinking, "What is missing?" Finally,
a light went off in my head, hemp, that's what's missing! I began drawing what was in my
mind. A doll everyone would love. That was the night HEMPY KYDZ began to come to life!
They would need to be made a bit different & with HEMP: So Dec. 25th, I drew out a
prototype and the idea seemed to fall into place: All dolls would: be made from hemp
material. Clothing made from hemp material: hats, jackets, pants, shirts, vests. Jeans or
dresses, aprons for girls. Hemp jewelry.
Each will come with his/her own Birth Certificate, have a HEMPY KYDZ label & number.
HEMPY KYDZ & clothes are washable: cold water & placed into a pillow case, line or
hang to dry. All profits will go into a Rx MJ account to help patients travel to speak out
on the truth of the "War on Drugs" aka, War on We, the People.
If you wish to order your own HEMPY KYDZ, either you can choose a name for the Birth
Certificate or a name will be chosen trying to match hair color, etc. Will take orders...
When I flew back, an elderly gentlemen waved to my doll several times! A stewardess came
over to ask if "my son" would like a cookie, then said "oh my gosh, for a
moment, I thought he was a real little boy." "He looked so real & shy
peaking over the seat - he's adorable". The lady sitting in the next seat smiled,
saying "I thought he was too, when I first saw him". We all had a good laugh
about my "shy-well behaved little toddler". We made it to the airport about 10
minutes before take-off due to traffic slowing down between 15-20 mph. Traffic was backed
up for about 15 miles because of a bad accident ahead. I wasn't the only one in the
traffic jam headed for the same flight...we had about enough time to check our luggage, go
through the metal detectors (being in a wheelchair, I was taken to the side for the wand
scanner) then make tracks to the boarding gate. In all the rush, I guess I can understand
how my doll may have been mistaken for a (real) toddler. He did have his own seat &
was seat belted on takeoff.
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The flight landed in a snowstorm. My friend was
waiting to pick me up in Minneapolis-St.Paul for the ride back to Wisconsin in almost
whiteout conditions. We considered staying at a motel until morning after about 45 minutes
of driving, but after seeing that a snowplow had just cleared that side of the highway, we
voted to keep going ahead. Suddenly an 18-wheeler came whizzing by. The next thing we hit
was glare black ice. We flew into the ditch, bouncing 5 times, up on 2 wheels ready to
flip. Somehow her 4x4 was facing the same direction we had just left...two big thuds &
we were back on 4 wheels, we were buried in snow up to the doors. All of the sudden two
people ran down to see if we were injured. Next we saw flashing lights, it was the state
patrol & a county officer, one from each side of the highway. By this time, cars were
off the road, but we were the only ones that went DOWN between the N. & S. lanes.
An ambulance was already dispatched. By the time one
of the officers could get the door open, the state patrol asked if we could walk up the
incline...my friend answered, "Jacki can't walk"-but we assured him I was in
that shape before the accident. All of the sudden the county cop asked about (the child).
(He) flew on the floor. I was shaking from the cold, asking "what child?" Then,
the pain & fear wore off enough that I realized he was talking about my doll. I
assured him with an explanation. The county guy was really nice. He gave me a piggyback
ride up to the top of the huge hill, put me in the squad with a blanket & helped my
friend carry the luggage up the hill. He drove us to a motel, and carried me in. Now that
IS what I call PROTECT & SERVE!!! I think I'd like to name the 1st HEMPY KYD
(Z)*Steve, after him. The next morning, we found out it took 85 ft. of cable to get the
4x4 out of the ditch. We took out a tree, and a deer. I thought they spiked my orange
juice. I even told the officer that I thought I saw a tree blink, when he told us how we
nearly flipped, but that another story, for another day. ENJOY HEMPY KYDZ!
Thank-you for your time. To place an order, or for more information, contact me at the
address below:
Jacki Rickert
rxganja@immly.org |