Saturday we woke to below freezing temps, but thank goodness it wasn't into the teens and our area did not see the snow and ice that fell north of us in OK. We bundled up in sweatshirts and jeans and headed to the new Arlington Stadium. We had never seen the inside as of yet and were overwhelmed by the enormity of it all. Once inside it was hard to move. We were ALL on the concourse looking down onto the field. And by all of us I mean the hundreds of people that turn out each year for the victory lap celebrating the funds raised for MDA.
In years past as a team captain I was never able to raise enough money , but I always showed up to walk. This year with the help of my BFF Nikki, my family and the fabulous people I work with , I was able to raise $100. That may not seem like much, but I was very proud of it. Especially since $82 only covers ONE MINUTE of research. We could designate what we wanted the funds to go toward ( i.e. Duchennes MD; general research; Limb - Girdle MD ), so I put my funds toward CMT , which is what affects my mom and I.
Some of the people that said they would walk on my team were unable to show that morning due to unexpected circumstances, so it was just me, along with my mom, Nicole, Chris and Sue. They had local highschool bands performing, along with dancers, cheerleaders and the like. One thing for sure - it was LOUD! Once the walk actually started, about a half hour after it was supposed to, one of the H.S. bands kicked it off with a drum roll and off we went. Once victory lap around the concourse. There were so many people, and we were actually very near the front of the whole thing, once we got around the entire concourse and looked back, there were people filling the entire circle. Some were just coming around the first bend. All along the way they had people waving pom poms, flags, and signs cheering all the walkers on.
Now my mom can't walk that fast, so her and I held hands. She had her cane in the other and boy were we walking proud. It felt good, and the total length we had to walk was just under a half mile. That may not seem like much to someone with legs that work right, but to us it was fantastic! I can walk more than that, but my mom is having a harder time getting around now, and falls more than I do , because she can't feel her feet that much anymore, so she thinks she is picking them up, but really doesn't, so she is more at risk of falling, but she still exercises 3 days a week and I can barely ever catch her at home!
I even saw some girls from the drill team from my old high school. They were walking in honor of someone in their class I think. I caught up with them, and thanked them and they gave me a big hug - it was awesome:)
Afterwards we went to my moms to warm up. We chowed down on some chili dogs and fritos. While we were eating lunch , Nicoles BFF Carson called and her and her mom asked us to meet them out at Barnes and Noble, so we went there, the girls did some American Girl activity while all of us adults browsed the bargain tables. We had gift cards from Christmas to spend so we had fun doing that. We all came home with at least 2-3 or more new books.
It was a wonderful day, it never really did warm up, but with having walked for something I believe in, being with family and friends AND spending time in a book store, well, my weekend was pretty well complete, and I still had one more day to go!
Heres to hoping ya'll had as great a weekend as I did!
