We had a beautiful day on Saturday for the Gulfport Relay for Life-and, the site could not have been more beautiful! We were right on the water and a cool breeze blew all day! This was a much smaller relay than we are used to but in a way it was lovely as it was much more personal. Caitlin gave the opening speech and she and Becky did the first "survivor" lap. Because the hours of this relay were also different than normal, they had scheduled most of the big survivor activities at dinnertime but because our crew had to get to Jacksonville the next day and would be leaving a bit early, they moved their schedule around a bit for us so we could hear Caitlin speak. And boy are we glad we did. She spoke of her liver cancer diagnosis, her treatments and surgery, her support group through the years and how grateful she is to be cancer free-and it just so happened to be her 17th birthday so all the more to celebrate! There wasn't a dry eye in the crowd and we are all so very proud of her-and all survivors as sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease and we recognize the strength it takes to fight this horrible battle.
Getting ready for the kick-off ceremony...note that daughter #2 is on crutches. She has been doing a lot of walking and running of late and somewhere along the way, she has fractured a bone in her foot. I am so proud of her because she still completed that first survivors' lap!
As you can see, our setting wasn't too shabby!
This is Caitlin's best friend from kindergarten. She started Caitlin's 17th birthday with a wake-up call from her bullhorn. Sure got the whole household up and moving quickly-haha!
You can't see it, but Caitlin is blowing out the "candles" (which we forgot) on her birthday cake as we all gathered to sing to her.
We all stayed as long as we could and then those of us who had to be in Jacksonville headed home for a quick unpack and repack before heading to Gainesville first. Before we knew it, we were on the road again and off to Orange Park-just outside of Jacksonville-for the "Young Women of Distinction" Award Ceremony where Hannah received her Gold Award in G.S. with her project entitled "BeYOUtiful: A Girls Self-Esteem Workshop."
We have been playing a bit of catch-up since then and once again, I have managed to get into "whatever" I am allergic to in my yard and this time not only have the rash full of thousands of tiny blisters all in between my fingers and up and down my arms but onto my face and around my eyes and all over my neck. I am miserable and look even worse! And, to top it off, after all of these years of thinking I didn't know which vines were the culprits, I think I have determined that the vine I thought was of no consequence just might be poison ivy! How could I be that ignorant?! Oh well, I am slathered in hydrocortisone cream and my daughter is getting me some benadryl and I will just have to wait it out. At least now I know-I think!
I will be back to my spring decor in my next post as well as showing you where all of my new "treasures" have ended up. Stay tuned.
No comments:
Post a Comment