Elizabeth Gerlach, BEN'S ADVENTURES
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[0:42]Elizabeth Gerlach is the author of the children's book series Ben's Adventures
[0:46]about a young triplet brother who uses a wheelchair but loves to dream up
[0:49]fun adventures with his family and friends.
[0:52]The series was inspired by her son, Ben, who passed away in 2016 at age three.
[0:57]The two books in the series so far are under the big top
[1:00]and day at the beach. Elizabeth is a special needs advocate and fundraiser
[1:04]for the Ben Smiles Memorial Foundation which she founded,
[1:08]a former advertising and marketing exec with an MBA in marketing.
[1:11]Elizabeth currently lives in the suburbs of Chicago's
[1:14]with Ben's triplet siblings Colin and Ava.
[1:17]Her husband is recently back from being deployed in the Middle East
[1:20]and is now in the Army Reserve.
[1:22]So welcome, Elizabeth. Thanks so much for coming on Mom's Don't Have Time to Read Books.
[1:26]Thank you, Zivi. So much for having me. I'm happy to be here.
[1:28]My real name is Elizabeth, too. Just so you know.
[1:31]Oh, is there? Oh, great.
[1:32]So if you ever want to steal a nickname
[1:35]and then go through the pain of Zivi is not one I've heard before.
[1:38]I have I've gotten Liz. I've gotten Lizzie.
[1:40]I've gotten Beth. You know, if you will ask me always,
[1:42]you know, do you have my Elizabeth? Like, yeah, we can thank my mom for that.
[1:48]It was never shortened. You're lucky. It's sort of been a pain having to shorten it.
[1:51]But anyway, it's nice to talk to you a fellow, Elizabeth.
[1:54]So you have a very interesting, inspiring, sad moving, happy everything story
[2:02]and I am thrilled to be talking to you about all of it.
[2:06]Your book series, Ben's Adventures. Why don't you tell listeners how
[2:10]you started the series? Why don't we just start with that and what the children's books are about?
[2:15]Well, the children's books were inspired by my son, Benjamin.
[2:19]I had triplets very prematurely at just 25 weeks and two days back in 2012.
[2:25]So we were one of those families where you hear of, you know,
[2:28]creamy babies and they're in the NICU for four to five months.
[2:31]And so that was, you know, we were one of there.
[2:33]So I've been through that whole kind of NICU roller coaster, you know, you don't really know.
[2:37]You literally literally live day to day to day to day to day.
[2:39]You don't really know what's going to happen.
[2:41]So my son, Ben, at that time, he actually had a lot of complications,
[2:45]a lot of infections, just a lot of stuff kind of happened to him.
[2:49]Whereas the other two, you know, I mean, if I can say they had kind of your typical kind of NICU
[2:53]stay, you know, they had, you know, a couple of things that happened, but nothing really,
[2:57]you know, a severe or significant has been did.
[2:59]But so he had a lot of complications from the prematurity.
[3:02]And then ultimately at about 10 months old when he wasn't meeting his milestones,
[3:06]you know, he wasn't rolling over, bringing his hand to his mouth,
[3:10]or, you know, holding his head up, or just, you know, all of those things that kids
[3:14]at 10 months old should do, you know, he, we, you know, had been to a ton of doctors
[3:18]and ultimately was diagnosed with spastic water.
[3:21]Please, I see a cerebral palsy, ultimately developed epilepsy needed a feeding tube,
[3:26]was nonverbal, may have had some vision impairment, you know, there was just a lot of,
[3:30]you know, he had a lot of medical needs and just kind of a host of things that, you know,
[3:34]he was going to be a kid that required a lot of care, which is fine, because he was mine,
[3:37]and I believe, you know, things kind of happened for a reason, and I was his mom,
[3:41]and you didn't do everything you can to take care of him.
[3:43]But over the course of three or four years, he started developing respiratory problems,
[3:48]and, you know, where a runny nose or a cough or a sniffle for a typical kid,
[3:53]you know, for him, it meant like a severe respiratory infection and a visit to the ER and a picky
[3:58]stay. So we probably had six or seven, you know, picky stays over the course of about a year and
[4:04]a half or so, and then ultimately, you know, and with each one, he kind of, you know, would get
[4:09]sicker or sicker, he ultimately required oxygen at home. And so the last one, he developed this
[4:14]infection that he just couldn't, you know, he just couldn't survive. So he ended up,
[4:17]you know, we lost him a second, 2016. So it's been a year of just not even knowing how to step forward,
[4:25]you know, I didn't want to get off the couch. I mean, I'm thankful I had the other two, because as a mom,
[4:29]you're kind of forced to survive, you know, and forced to move forward and forced to, you know,
[4:34]just keep things going. And so, you know, I'm thankful for them that we had, you know, that I had them.
[4:40]So ultimately, the idea hit me one day to start a foundation. So we started, you know, Ben Smiles,
[4:46]Memorial Foundation, which I can talk about that a little bit if you, you know, if you wanted me
[4:50]to. But I also then thought, well, you know, one of my supposed to be doing for him, because as a
[4:54]special needs mom, you think, you know, or like, you know, your purposes to take care of your
[4:59]child, you know, my child for his life was going to be dependent on us. He was going to have all
[5:04]these additional needs. And like that was my identity was, you know, kind of take care of him. And
[5:08]then one day you wake up and he's not there. And it's like, holy cow, like now, what am I supposed
[5:13]you know, what am I supposed to be doing? And so, you know, we started the foundation and then,
[5:17]you know, I was driving to my car one day. I thought, you know, I'd be really cool to do a children's
[5:21]book. You know, because just again, to kind of create a legacy for us or for him or give tribute to
[5:26]him and show a kid in a wheelchair, because you didn't really at the time see a ton of picture
[5:31]books that showed all types of people, types of kids with different needs or different abilities.
[5:36]And I thought, well, that would be really cool to do a, you know, to represent in my way,
[5:40]you know, a kid about or a kid in a wheelchair that needed, you know, had different needs. And so,
[5:44]but I didn't want the books to be about disability just to be, you know, about how he lives in a
[5:49]wheelchair. But I wanted it to be about a child that was a kid, even though he was in a wheelchair.
[5:55]So he could have friends, he could have dreams, he could enjoy his life, he could have fun.
[6:00]And so the premise of my books is that, you know, it's Ben's Avengers. So, you know, Ben's a
[6:05]wheelchair, but he dreams up all of these fun kind of instances. And so the first one is,
[6:12]you know, he dreams up a time at the beach. And, you know, I grew up going to the beach. I mean,
[6:16]from the East Coast originally, so all of our family vacations were, you know, we went to the beach.
[6:21]And so I actually, even though we were outside of Chicago, so even though we live in the Midwest,
[6:26]you know, we always took the kids to the beach. So that's still, you know, even though they're young,
[6:29]you know, we've been to the beach. So that, you know, that was the premise of the first one.
[6:33]And, you know, again, then the first one I approached as this, you know, attribute to him,
[6:37]and just, you know, how can I kind of memorialize him or, you know, represent disability and still
[6:43]kind of have it honor our family and pull from our own experiences and kind of, you know, what made
[6:48]us happy. And so, you know, that's where the beach concept came from. And then on the second one,
[6:53]which just released in September of this year is a tribute to the early education childhood,
[7:00]early childhood education teachers because Ben, you know, he died right before his first,
[7:05]the fourth birthday. So he was in school, you know, they were in preschool together for a year.
[7:09]And so he just had a phenomenal, you know, one year of school. And he just, he thrived and he learned
[7:15]so much and he showed me things that I didn't even know you would be able to do. And so like,
[7:20]I wanted to get tribute to them.
[7:22]Well, Elizabeth, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. This must be so hard to talk about. And I'm just
[7:27]so sorry for your loss and your experience. And my heart is just aching for you.
[7:32]No, thank you. But you know what? I always tell people because you feel like,
[7:36]and I'm going to try, I'm going to try to get it together here. You don't have to get it together at all.
[7:42]But when you talk about a child's death, people don't want to talk about that. You know,
[7:46]so I feel like people kind of shy away from it or they, you know, don't talk to me or they don't,
[7:50]you know, ask questions about it or they kind of like, you know, dodge around, you know,
[7:54]the topic. And I always just say, I'm an open book because I won't come any chance to talk to
[8:00]him. You know, I'd love to tell people about him. You know, I'm so I'm so sorry.
[8:07]No, I'm so sorry. Tell me about him. Tell me a little more about Ben. I mean, I know I saw
[8:12]in all of your books and everything and got a sense from your website. But like what made Ben
[8:16]so special? Well, he was mine. I thought he was perfect even though he had, you know, all of the
[8:23]challenges and just the physical junk and, you know, I mean, day to day life was hard.
[8:28]You know, just he had, we had a ton of appointments and a ton of therapies and he was on a special
[8:33]diet with the epilepsy and what he smiled. I mean, he just had the best smile and he just
[8:38]laughed and he was ticklish. You know, so we would kind of do things to make him, you know,
[8:44]laugh and smile. And so that's where the premise of like Ben smiles, the name for our foundation
[8:50]game from was that, you know, has been smiles just because he has, he had the best smile and
[8:54]you're like, that's what I want people to, you know, know about him and just he was happy despite
[8:59]all the other stuff. So I'm sure you made him as happy as you possibly could. You're obviously
[9:06]so devoted and there's so much love that you still feel. Oh my gosh. I tell me a little more about
[9:13]the foundation you said after. That's a beautiful thing that you did. Thank you. So we couldn't
[9:17]really move his arms or he couldn't grasp and just because, you know, he just couldn't control
[9:22]his muscles. His muscles were so tight and it was difficult for him to relax. But I mean, when kids
[9:27]are young, they want to play with toys. You know, they need to be able to, that's how they learn
[9:31]is through play. They play with cause and effect toys and they grasp things and manipulate things
[9:35]and, you know, in his case and, you know, a lot of kids case, they just can't play with
[9:39]typical toys. So they make what they call adapted toys or switch toys whereas if a child can hit a
[9:45]a switch or if they can, you know, move their, maybe they can move their elbow and, you know,
[9:49]so they can tap a switch with their elbow or, or, you know, like in my son Ben's case, he was
[9:54]fisted. So his natural position was this. So he couldn't really use his fingers and so he could,
[9:59]you know,
[10:00]move as arm and engine like bump a switch or answer a question or whatever it is.
[10:04]And so they make a depth of toys, but they're expensive.
[10:07]And you know, when you're insisting on a cover toys, you know, they cover,
[10:10]you know, they cover a lot of stuff.
[10:12]They don't cover, you know, they're things that they just don't cover.
[10:14]And so, you know, unfortunately enough, we were able to get some toys into some extra kind
[10:18]of tools, you know, resources for him to have in the house.
[10:21]But many families, they, they, you know, aren't able to.
[10:24]And I just thought, you know, it was so stressful for me, you know, as a mom,
[10:28]like I'm around Christmas and you wanted to buy gifts for your kids or birthdays or whatever.
[10:32]And so, you know, you're just like these times of the year where you just want to buy,
[10:35]you know, have new things or have stuff for your kids.
[10:37]And it's, you know, for some people, it's just impossible.
[10:40]And so I was driving in my car one day and I have all my, I think I've realized I have all
[10:46]my best ideas when I'm driving and I can't really, or I'm in the shower, you know,
[10:51]or like I'm doing something where I can't act on it immediately.
[10:54]But I was driving in my car and I just got kind of this sensation,
[10:57]like kind of this tingle, you know, like this.
[11:00]I can't, it's even hard to describe.
[11:01]And then the name Ben Smiles popped into my head.
[11:04]And I just thought, well, this is, you know, I don't know,
[11:07]beliefs of your listeners or whatever, but I just thought, you know, this is kind of my
[11:11]message of what am I supposed to do with this, you know?
[11:14]And so, you know, I had the name Ben Smiles, but then I was a question of like,
[11:18]well, what is that supposed to be?
[11:20]And then ultimately, you know, start thinking about it and the toy idea,
[11:24]you know, kind of developed about it a year later.
[11:26]So he died in May and then the following April, we're able to, you know,
[11:30]we kind of met up with some people here that can help us through the foundation,
[11:33]you know, help us set things up.
[11:35]And so, you know, it launched April of 2017.
[11:39]Wow.
[11:39]That's amazing that you do that.
[11:41]Have you been able to connect with any families who have been able to use the toys
[11:45]that you've got?
[11:46]Oh, yeah.
[11:46]Yeah, we probably, I don't remember, I don't have an exact number,
[11:49]just simply because I haven't added a mob.
[11:51]Like this week, I think I've gotten six new requests for different toys.
[11:54]And so like, you know, obviously, you know, we, they kind of trickle in throughout the year,
[11:58]but Christmas is a big time.
[12:00]And so last Christmas, I think we shipped out 82 toys.
[12:02]Oh, wow.
[12:03]That's so amazing.
[12:04]Do you do it right there?
[12:05]Do you do it from your house?
[12:06]It's like me at my kitchen table.
[12:08]No way.
[12:09]Oh, my gosh.
[12:10]That's me taking in the order forms.
[12:12]And, you know, you try to really cater the toy for the child because some kids have epilepsy.
[12:17]And so they can't have any toys with, you know, I bright light to flashing lights or anything
[12:22]like that and some kid, maybe a, you know, child has vision impairments.
[12:26]So, you know, movement is less important, but they need something with music.
[12:30]And so, you know, we try to, you know, really cater or I try to really cater the toy,
[12:35]you know, to the child's needs and just pick something that's going to be most,
[12:38]you know, most useful and joyful for them.
[12:41]And so, yeah, last year, I was really early stressed in every time, you know, and I'm like,
[12:45]by, you know, getting the toys and repairing everything and boxing them up and taking them to
[12:49]the post office and every time I would walk into the post office last Christmas was like
[12:54]six or seven boxes that, you know, post the ladies just like rolling your eyes.
[13:00]We became best friends.
[13:03]I feel like I was in there so frequently.
[13:05]But yeah, I know it's fun.
[13:06]But yeah, no, it's me.
[13:06]I'd sit here and I'd do it all.
[13:09]And how do you want to sit down like, you know, you know, you don't have anything you send
[13:13]or anything.
[13:13]I'm so I have a recruit.
[13:16]I should probably, the smart person might ask for help and try to delegate.
[13:20]Not there yet.
[13:21]Yeah, I find delegating very difficult.
[13:24]I'm one of those control things.
[13:26]I think that's why I went down the self published route with the book because I just thought
[13:31]I want to have control over the story, the illustration, the timeline, the marketing, the
[13:38]everything.
[13:40]Did it ever occur to you to go to traditional publisher?
[13:42]You just knew for the start?
[13:43]No, not really.
[13:44]By the time I started thinking about doing a children's book, I started seeing like in different
[13:49]Facebook groups or Facebook friends, you know, people were, you know, mentioning,
[13:53]oh, I just released my book or whatever.
[13:54]And so I thought, wow, you know, I just had this idea now starting to kind of see things
[14:00]around me, you know, that are talking about self publishing or children's books or whatever.
[14:04]And again, that's, you know, I kind of thought, well, maybe I, you know, this is kind of
[14:07]a message, you know, a message that I should try, you know, go down this route.
[14:10]And so reached out to a friend, a Facebook friend of mine, and, you know,
[14:14]start asking questions to her and then just figured it out from there.
[14:18]And then you launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise the money.
[14:21]I did, well, the first one I did not.
[14:22]The first one I funded, you know, I did work with a hybrid publisher for the first one,
[14:28]and they helped me through the process.
[14:29]And I think I'm still learning as I go.
[14:32]But with the first one, that's where the kind of the control aspect comes in, you know,
[14:36]I just wanted, I mean, they were great with the design and the creation and everything.
[14:40]But then like the publishing portion of it, you know, I just started to ask questions and realize,
[14:45]you know, I just wanted to be able to handle everything myself versus rely on somebody else.
[14:49]So for when I decided I wanted to do the second one, I did.
[14:53]I, you know, and it's expensive because as a self publisher, you're funding everything
[14:56]out of your own account, you know, out of your own, you know, money.
[15:00]So I decided to do the Kickstarter just as a way to, you know, kind of build it
[15:06]up, maybe gain some more followers, talk about it and have people pre-order.
[15:10]So, you know, it does then give you, you know, some cash flow, I guess, to be able to print the
[15:16]books.
[15:17]So, and it's still, it's expensive.
[15:19]But yeah, I just, you know, that's why I did the Kickstarter just to help with pre-orders and
[15:22]help define kind of the second one.
[15:24]And meanwhile, while you've been going through all this, your husband is in the military and
[15:28]was deployed in the Middle East for a while, and now I guess he's back.
[15:32]Yeah, he's been in the army.
[15:34]He's the army reserves actually and it's been in for like 32 years or something like that.
[15:39]So this is even kind of pre, you know, I mean, he and I have been married,
[15:43]90, this January will be nine years.
[15:46]And so he had two deployments before he and I met, but then, you know, he had always just
[15:51]throughout our relationship.
[15:52]He had just been in the reserves and you know, which basically meant, you know, you go for a
[15:56]weekend or you have certain duties, you have to, you know, fulfill throughout the month and
[16:01]go on certain trips.
[16:02]But then he had this opportunity, his whole unit had this opportunity to go to Kuwait for,
[16:06]you know, do a deployment to Kuwait, you know, we kind of talked about it and seemed
[16:10]like a good way to kind of build his army and his military resume.
[16:14]And so, you know, he just went and deployed.
[16:17]So he, July, well, he just got, we said July of 2018 and got back May of 2019.
[16:24]So he was gone 10-ish months.
[16:27]So I know this is like an overly simplistic question, but like, how do you do all of this?
[16:33]So your husband's gone, you're still mourning the loss of Ben, you have essentially twins now.
[16:40]And I mean, I have a set of twins and it is not easy.
[16:42]Like now, and you're managing this foundation from your kitchen, you're writing children's books.
[16:48]How do you do this without just like, I mean, I feel like I'd be sitting on the bathroom floor
[16:53]just crying of like the stress and I don't know.
[16:57]How do you, how do you get through it all?
[16:58]How do you do it? What inspires you and keeps you going?
[17:01]I, I don't know that I have a good answer to that question other than just each day,
[17:06]you know, my kids are so, my kids are so, I mean, they're in second grade now.
[17:10]So there's, you know, there's seven years old.
[17:11]And so they are kind of out of the home for a good portion of the day.
[17:14]But I always tell people it's like the fastest six hours of the entire day.
[17:19]Yeah, it's like, I'm sure you want, how old are your kids?
[17:23]I have twins that are now 12 and a half and I also have a six-year-old and a five-year-old.
[17:28]Okay, so you know, yeah, I feel like, you know, when they first went into kindergarten
[17:31]and they were going to be gone for the six that, you know, for the school day,
[17:34]I thought, wow, I'm going to get so much done.
[17:36]My house is going to be so clean.
[17:39]My, you know, I'm just going to be like the most organized person I can, you know, focus on the
[17:43]foundation more and it was just not the case at all.
[17:46]I just, it's the quickest six days, you know, and then there were six hours.
[17:49]And which is, you know, I mean, I love my child.
[17:51]I completely love my children, obviously.
[17:53]But you know, I'm just somehow, I'm just not as productive as I ever thought I would be.
[17:57]So if I have something to do, you know, I don't mind doing the work.
[18:02]And so you just handle it.
[18:04]And then I mean, after school, my kids have so much, so many activities, you know,
[18:07]we're just kind of running back and forth to gymnastics and ballet and swimming and, you know,
[18:11]just there's all kinds of stuff going on.
[18:14]And did they ever express like their emotions about the loss of
[18:18]then from their perspective?
[18:20]Or were they too young?
[18:21]You know, I don't know.
[18:22]I mean, he's still so very much present here.
[18:26]You know, and so, and there were three, they were almost four.
[18:29]I mean, he died, you know, six weeks before their fourth birthday.
[18:32]And, you know, as triplets, I'm going to know, you know, with your twins,
[18:35]I'm sure you feel they have a kind of a just an innate connection.
[18:39]You know, there's just something, something there between them because they're twins.
[18:43]You know, I don't know.
[18:44]I mean, I really struggled with how to explain it to them, you know, when he wasn't coming
[18:49]home from the hospital, you know, because he was always here.
[18:52]And they accepted Ben for who, you know, for who he was.
[18:54]And he needed medical care and he needed, you know, he needed to use a wheelchair.
[18:59]And he just, he needed like he wasn't exactly, you know, like them, so to speak.
[19:04]So I think, you know, because he had been so sick, you know, I basically explained it to them,
[19:09]to them that, you know, you know, how he's been so sick, you know, he can't read his lungs,
[19:15]like his body just can't work anymore, so he's gone to live with Jesus.
[19:19]And so, you know, he's gone to heaven to live with Jesus.
[19:22]And in their mind, you know, at three years old, they're like, okay, you know,
[19:25]but when can he come home, can we go to check a cheese?
[19:28]Mm-hmm.
[19:28]And when it's like, well, well, you know, and then I kind of have to explain it again.
[19:32]And, well, you know, he's not coming home means living with Jesus.
[19:35]And when they're, okay, yeah, but when he comes home, can we do this?
[19:40]You know, I'm getting this book, so when Ben comes home, you know, I'm going to give him this
[19:43]book or like whatever it is. And so, you know, because for them at three, it was just,
[19:47]he was a part of, he was their brother, and he was a part of our life, and he was always at home.
[19:52]And so, I mean, probably about six to eight months or so after that, they stopped saying,
[19:59]you know, when Ben comes.
[20:00]So maybe because there had been that period of time where just he wasn't here.
[20:04]So they were, you know, kind of getting more used to just being the two of them.
[20:07]So in terms of, and I, and, you know, they were saying like, I honestly don't know if they
[20:12]have any clear or, you know, real memories of when their brother was here.
[20:17]I mean, but when you look at photos all the time, you know, we look at videos.
[20:20]Thank you to Facebook for showing me what happens on this day.
[20:25]You know, so I was like, I, you know, I don't know.
[20:29]So we, we, we talk about them all the time and they're very proud of the books.
[20:33]And, you know, so they, they know he's their brother.
[20:35]But I mean, I don't know, like emotionally if it's, if it really impacts them.
[20:40]Because I feel like he's still here.
[20:41]We still talk about it.
[20:42]He's just present in a different way.
[20:45]So does anything help you like, aside from the charity?
[20:48]Like, what helps you the most in day to day life?
[20:51]Like, how can I help you?
[20:53]Yeah.
[20:54]Now I like, one of, now that I am like, so upset, I can't hug you through this
[20:59]Skype call.
[21:00]Like, what can people, what can your friends do?
[21:03]What can we as a community do?
[21:05]Like, how can we help?
[21:06]How can I help?
[21:08]Well, you know, I don't know if there's anything that people can physically do,
[21:12]you know, because there's a mom who's lost the child.
[21:14]And, you know, I'm sure there's people out there that can kind of support me unless
[21:17]or will attest to this.
[21:18]I mean, you don't recover.
[21:20]You know, you just, you learn to live in your new situation.
[21:24]So for me, helping me has been able, you know, being able to give to other people
[21:31]and honor them in that way.
[21:32]Like, see smiles with other kids, you know, that are like a whole week the book
[21:37]or that are playing with the toy or that are like him, that helps me.
[21:41]So, you know, and some days, like some days are good and some days are okay.
[21:47]I can go for days and not have a breakdown like I'm doing right now.
[21:51]You know, I'm like, last night, I went to a fair like a holiday market at a school.
[21:58]And so, you know, trying to, you know, talk about the books and talk about the foundation.
[22:01]It's over three hours.
[22:02]I spoke to people about the books and I told them about that.
[22:05]And I just, and it was like completely fine.
[22:07]You know, they want to be happy and make jokes and, you know, but then it's like,
[22:11]you know, you get your car and you just kind of like, you know, you have to have a little
[22:15]bit of a release. So, I don't know. But yeah, so I go, I mean, I go through days where it's like,
[22:20]you know, I'm good. Like things seem normal, but then, you know, something might happen or,
[22:25]you know, I don't know, have a memory or have a thought of like, how am I never going to see
[22:30]my kid again? You know, but like, how am I not going to be able to hug my son again?
[22:35]Like, I have that kind of question.
[22:38]But, you know, I don't know. I mean, as a mom, you just figure out how to step forward.
[22:47]And so that's what I had to do, you know, two years ago was, and this has already existed now,
[22:53]right? I mean, this is life that also had you still step forward and how do you progress
[22:58]and how to survive for my other children, you know? And so that was my way, you know,
[23:04]do with the foundation and doing the books? Oh, wow. Being able to talk about them.
[23:09]Well, I feel just so honored to get the chance to talk to you about him, to get to know
[23:14]Ben Moore, to get a little slice of your story. I think what you're doing as I'm sure,
[23:19]you know, deep down is just the most amazing thing ever. I mean, I'm just so impressed with you.
[23:27]And the books are great, by the way. I know that like, we've not really discussed the actual
[23:34]books, but the, you know, you're a really great writer. And the illustrations are fun. And,
[23:41]you know, my kids love the books. And, you know, it's really, really impressive. And I am so sorry
[23:49]for everything you've been through. And I just thank you for being so open and sharing. And I'm
[23:55]going to get off this Skype interview and go donate to your foundation. How do people donate? It
[24:01]smiles. Yeah. So, yeah, Ben smiles.org to be in smilest.org. And the book, I mean, the books,
[24:11]the Ben's Adventures books are all available on Amazon. And, but then also, they're on my,
[24:16]I have a website, then spends hyphenadventures.com as well.
[24:21]Well, Elizabeth, thank you for coming on mom's don't have time to read books and sharing your story.
[24:26]And all the stories have been. Thank you so much for having me. Of course, my pleasure.
[24:31]You've been listening to mom's don't have time to read books with Zippy Owens. Please make sure
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[24:57]moms don't have time to read books. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound for the
[25:02]sound editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and
[25:07]out trim music. Thanks for listening. You can always email me at zippyatzippyowens.com.