Humbling and Inspiring.

I’m sure it’s happened to you before.  A moment or event that comes along that is just completely overwhelming and wonderful and you pause and say to yourself, “Wow!  This is amazing and something I will never forget.”  And yes, it just happened to me here recently and I’ve been so excited to blog about it and share it with you.  (And I can’t believe I’ve allowed so much time to pass before I’ve written about it!)

As many of you know after reading Sam’s blog, my Uncle Tim, Sam’s great uncle, decided to donate his time and do something special by participating in a four day multi-state run from Memphis to Mobile to help raise money for St. Jude Research Hospital.  Well, I was fortunate enough to make the trip down to Mobile, Alabama to see him cross the finish line.  What a moving experience this was for me!  Truly!  I was bursting with pride for my Uncle Tim and was overcome with emotion.  Believe me when I say I had to suck on my two front teeth quite a bit that day to keep from bursting into tears every five minutes.  It seemed that every time I turned around someone was giving another a high five, a big hug, words of encouragement…..the mood in the room that day after the runners crossed the finish line and entered into a space for a post run celebration was electrifying!  I’m serious!  If I could’ve bottled up that positive energy and taken it home with me and spread it all around, I would’ve in a heart beat.  To see so many people come together for a great cause was very moving.  You would’ve wanted a piece of it.  And many of you were a piece of it with your generous donations.  Thank you so much for supporting my Uncle Tim and all children battling cancer.

I wanted to share with you a few photos from the event.  I traveled alone, as Sam’s numbers were too low to travel, so Jere and Jack stayed back with him.  This short two and half day trip was actually a nice little break for me as well.  I stayed at my Aunt Shelia and Uncle Tim’s house and was able to visit with my Nana Mahoney and even got to see my Aunt Meg and Emedio who were passing through on their way to the Bahamas.  It was wonderful.

First up, a few pre-event festivities.

Now, this is a southern thing I was told!  The lovely ladies below are in a group called “The Azalea Trail Maids.”  They are a group of 50 high school senior girls who wear beautiful antebellum costumes and serve as “Official Ambassadors” to the city of Mobile.  They are true symbols of Southern Hospitality and were so, so polite.  Every time I spoke with them, it was, “Yes Ma’am” this and “No Ma’am” that.  It made me feel kinda old!  HA!  Anyway, I guess it is a real honor to be selected for an Azalea Trail Maid.  I found all of it quite interesting!  :)

And speaking of interesting, get a load of the gang pictured below!  Even though Madi Gras was back in February, it didn’t stop this crew from dawning their costumes to welcome the runners home.  Did you know that Madi Gras actually originated in Mobile, Alabama but New Orleans gets all the credit?  Just a little cocktail trivia for ya…

Me and my Aunt Shelia waiting for my Uncle Tim and the other runners to arrive.  Please note the beads we are wearing; a gift from some of the characters featured above.  Apparently, these are really great beads to receive because they have been “customized” with the groups name on it.  Right Aunt Shelia? !!!  :)

As the runners approached the finish line, they were led in by a really neat local band.  It just set the mood and there was just so much excitement in the air.  It was so neat to see all the runners being led in by this band, getting a heroes welcome (as they should!) with big smiles on their faces.   And believe it or not, I had to suck on my teeth during this part to keep the tears from welling up.  And the event was just starting!  Geesh!  I knew it was going to be a long afternoon!

And who was there right in the front, leading the charge?  My Uncle Tim!  The smile on his face was so contagious and you could just feel his happiness and sense of accomplishment.  I was so proud of him!!!  As he made his way through the crowd, he held in his hand a $100 bill that someone had given him on the street that pushed him over the $10,000 mark for donations.  IMPRESSIVE!!!

My Uncle Tim greeted me with a HUGE smile and a great big hug and as he passed by, I saw this…

And then he showed me this…

And suddenly sucking on my teeth to keep the tears at bay didn’t work anymore.  I was so touched, so moved, so overcome with emotion.

We headed inside for some food, drinks, an award ceremony and slideshow.  Toward the end of the event, they called up my Uncle Tim to present him with a certificate and a special tie.  Receiving this tie is a special honor and it was given to Tim who raised the most money for the event.

The St. Jude Memphis to Mobile group even called me up to give ME an award for coming to the event.  The certificate even had Sam’s picture on it.  Can you believe it?  I didn’t do anything but show up! The even featured Sam in their slideshow.  Again, tears.  I’m such a cry baby.

As I looked around, I was humbled by the people who took the time out of their busy lives to do something for the good of others…raising money for research to help find a cure for childhood cancer.  It also inspired me to do something for the hospital that has done such an amazing job caring for Sam.  Who knows what it will be, but I will do something.  It’s hard not to after witnessing such an event.

I’ll close by leaving you with the email letter Uncle Tim sent out after his run.  Thank you Uncle Tim for everything.  You are amazing and I am so humbled and speechless over your giving spirit.  Love ya!

Hebrews 13:16

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Hello Everyone!

The inaugural Memphis to Mobile run (aka: M2M1) for St. Jude is in the history books; by all accounts, it was a smashing success!

For the children of St. Jude, when all the numbers are in, it looks like we will have raised about $100,000 for the hospital – pretty darn good for a first time event! I’m proud to say, that with your help, I raised slightly over $10,000 of that total amount.

For the local chapter of St. Jude (St. Jude on the Bay), this event could have been a logistical nightmare – the number of details that had to be coordinated were unbelievable. Safety considerations for the runners were constantly being monitored and that whole aspect was a job in itself. However, the organizing team did a great job and the entire event went off very smoothly. From the transportation to the food to the post-run celebration, it was all good!

For me personally, I can honestly say that this was a life-changing event. I entered into this whole thing with good intent and knowing it was for a great cause, but really had no idea what I was actually signing up for! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to impact me like it has. The tour of St. Jude hospital was incredible, inspiring and humbling. The people who shared this experience with me started out as strangers and are now considered close friends. The incredible generosity shown by your donations has renewed my belief that there are many more good people in the world then there are bad, and that those people will support a worthwhile cause.  I have been given the opportunity to be part of something very special, and I have just a few memories from the trip to share with you:

• The first night out, Thursday, I was running at three o’clock in the morning, into a constant 15-20 mph headwind, with a lady I did not even know 24 hours earlier, through the back roads of Mississippi, listening to my Bob Seger running tunes being blared out from the chase van to keep us motivated – a surreal moment to say the least.
• Earlier that day, as we had a ceremonial start to the race from the front doors of St. Jude hospital to the campus gates, I looked down and saw a 4 year old girl running with us. She was laughing and giggling like any healthy child, except that she was a St. Jude patient who only had tufts of hair, the rest having fallen out due to her chemo treatments. She was, for the moment, unfazed by her chemo treatments and enjoying being able to run with us. Suddenly, my troubles seemed very trivial.
• Our final day on the road, Sunday, four in the morning, showering in the Citronelle (small rural community north of Mobile) Police Station – don’t get to do that too often!

There are a ton of other memories as well, too many to mention here.  I’ve attached an email that has a link to over 200 pictures of the trip on Snapfish. I know that is a lot of pictures to scroll through, but be comforted by the fact that  I didn’t even upload all of them!  I tried to select ones that would give you an overall flavor of what this run was like. Just open the attachment and click on the link. You need a Snapfish account to view them – but it’s totally free.

Mobile plans on making this an annual event and I suspect I will stay involved – it would be hard not to….

Thanks again for supporting the children!

Cheers,

Tim