We spent a quiet afternoon yesterday in anticipation of our exciting evening at Light the Night. It was amazing! So many things to be thankful of, so many emotions, so many friends and family and so many raindrops!
We got out to the walk site at Green Lake at 4:30 to find the walk director Jo McNeal drenched to the skin and talking about the logistical nightmare of rain and mud. Eight of our yellow clad team met for dinner at Green Lake Bar & Grill. We were stopped several times to answer “What’s Never2old?” or “What event is tonight?” I talked with one who said he worked at Fred Hutch. I told him I owed him a thank you if he was involved in stem-cells. He said he was, and that Ken’s name actually sounded familiar!
We set up our Team banner and attempted to gather out team. It was raining so hard you couldn’t see anyone’s faces under their hoods or umbrellas. We had tried to be so organized, but once papers get wet, they stay wet. The pink highlighter slowly streaked down the page so it looked like everyone on our team had checked in. We ended up with 33 walkers. Five were new, that we had not expected and 15 of our 43 total registered walkers must have been kept away by the rain.
The horn sounded, the band started and off we went on our trek around Green Lake to celebrate the survivors, remember the ones lost and hope for more cures for blood cancers. Walking out front was the director Jo.
Ken stopped her and had everyone cheer for all her hard work. We fell into line with Wendy carrying the Never2old banner the entire way. 
Sydnie became emotional at the start realizing that we had actually reached this goal after all we had been through.
The cold, wet, miserable rain melted away as we stepped onto the walkway. Very shortly we came to the “Hero’s Footsteps” and found Erik’s photo. Peggy knew he was pleased that we were walking for him. A little further down the path we found the photos of Chuck and Ken. The placards had an 8x10 photo, name, city, diagnosis and “in memory” or “in honor”.
Before long, everyone was peeling off layers of waterproofing and enjoying a pleasant evening for a walk. Looking at the sea of red, white and gold balloons got more impressive as the skies grew darker. Each walker had an illuminated red helium balloon, survivor balloons were white and those who had lost someone to a blood cancer carried gold balloons.
Sydnie’s brother brought back forgotten memories as we walked past where they used to have the Aqua Follies. The Jones family used to go to the shows. That must be why she was interested in the synchronized swimming and diving during the Olympics.
Ken’s conditioning enabled him to get thru the walk without too much trouble. It might have been easier if he hadn’t talked the entire 2.8 miles. We were all finding it a little more difficult to walk as we had on heavy boots instead of walking shoes. Sydnie was so sorry she couldn’t wear her new Brooks shoes!
You can see by the pictures everyone kept smiling and hugging. As we got to the end of the walk, the team gathered to share walk adventures, say their good-byes and say what a good time they had. We can’t wait to share the final tally of money raised. Our estimated total at this time is $9,000!!! Donations will still be accepted until the end of October. Thank you so much to all who walked, supported, planned and donated to this cause.
We got out to the walk site at Green Lake at 4:30 to find the walk director Jo McNeal drenched to the skin and talking about the logistical nightmare of rain and mud. Eight of our yellow clad team met for dinner at Green Lake Bar & Grill. We were stopped several times to answer “What’s Never2old?” or “What event is tonight?” I talked with one who said he worked at Fred Hutch. I told him I owed him a thank you if he was involved in stem-cells. He said he was, and that Ken’s name actually sounded familiar!
We set up our Team banner and attempted to gather out team. It was raining so hard you couldn’t see anyone’s faces under their hoods or umbrellas. We had tried to be so organized, but once papers get wet, they stay wet. The pink highlighter slowly streaked down the page so it looked like everyone on our team had checked in. We ended up with 33 walkers. Five were new, that we had not expected and 15 of our 43 total registered walkers must have been kept away by the rain.
The horn sounded, the band started and off we went on our trek around Green Lake to celebrate the survivors, remember the ones lost and hope for more cures for blood cancers. Walking out front was the director Jo.
Ken stopped her and had everyone cheer for all her hard work. We fell into line with Wendy carrying the Never2old banner the entire way. Sydnie became emotional at the start realizing that we had actually reached this goal after all we had been through.The cold, wet, miserable rain melted away as we stepped onto the walkway. Very shortly we came to the “Hero’s Footsteps” and found Erik’s photo. Peggy knew he was pleased that we were walking for him. A little further down the path we found the photos of Chuck and Ken. The placards had an 8x10 photo, name, city, diagnosis and “in memory” or “in honor”.
Before long, everyone was peeling off layers of waterproofing and enjoying a pleasant evening for a walk. Looking at the sea of red, white and gold balloons got more impressive as the skies grew darker. Each walker had an illuminated red helium balloon, survivor balloons were white and those who had lost someone to a blood cancer carried gold balloons.
Sydnie’s brother brought back forgotten memories as we walked past where they used to have the Aqua Follies. The Jones family used to go to the shows. That must be why she was interested in the synchronized swimming and diving during the Olympics.
Ken’s conditioning enabled him to get thru the walk without too much trouble. It might have been easier if he hadn’t talked the entire 2.8 miles. We were all finding it a little more difficult to walk as we had on heavy boots instead of walking shoes. Sydnie was so sorry she couldn’t wear her new Brooks shoes!
You can see by the pictures everyone kept smiling and hugging. As we got to the end of the walk, the team gathered to share walk adventures, say their good-byes and say what a good time they had. We can’t wait to share the final tally of money raised. Our estimated total at this time is $9,000!!! Donations will still be accepted until the end of October. Thank you so much to all who walked, supported, planned and donated to this cause.
1 comment:
It turned into a very pleasant evening walking around Green Lake. Kim and I are so happy we were able to make it this year. Here's looking forward to next year's walk.
P.S. I was hoping the Port-o-let picture would have made the Blog.
Colby
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