Monday, November 17, 2008

Otter Pop People Rock!





So Team H.O.P.E. and Simply the Breast have returned triumphant!   None of them had to ride the sweep bus.  Not that there would be any shame in riding the sweep bus the last couple miles but I guess Jeannie threatened to pull them off the bus and to beat them senseless if they did motivated everyone to keep walking.

 

My ladies did not lose any toenails - which I guess is a fairly common malady of 3-day walkers. (and of people who get run over by sweep buses)  There were some aches and pains but nothing that immobilized or demoralized them!  Unsurprisingly, Wendy walked a little too fast to stay with the group.  She apparently arrived at the lunch stop a full half hour before it opened on the second day.   I didn't even know Wendy ate lunch!  

 

The ladies were incredibly touched and inspired by all the support of the community.  I guess all the official cheering stations were packed full of well wishers.  And I guess some of the well-wishers even ventured away from the official cheer stations and just greeted and cheered and gave them refreshments all along the walk.  

 

They were thankful for all the support and all the refreshments; but the ones they mentioned by name more than once were the Otter Pops.  Otter Pops are apparently the perfect size and sweetness and everything.  I am not discounting the generosity of companies that provide refreshments to events like this - but there is something so incredibly generous about a private person buying, freezing, and distributing Otter Pops just because.

 

Did you know that Otter Pops have characters for each flavor?  I have a ton of other Otter Pop info to share with y’all later – but right now we are focused on the people providing the Otter Pops, not the pops themselves! 

 


We don’t know who these people were but we are thankful and grateful!   

 

We were so indebted to so many before the sun even came up Friday morning; and the kindness continues.  Our ladies were very impressed with the motorcycle and bicycle teams.  They also liked this guy:

 


They want to thank the lady who passed out Trivial Pursuit cards, whoever she is.  (Hmmpf!  If I had known it was going to be a walking trivia game I might have signed up to walk.  But then I would have tried to get on the sweep bus and then it would have turned ugly) 

 

I hope to have more pictures soon! 

 

On a final note.  I do not ever like to intrude upon another persons grief.  I almost didn’t mention this because it seems private ~ but this is why folks are out there raising money and awareness so . . .

 

Our ladies saw a woman along the walk that just melted their hearts.  This woman was wearing a pink t-shirt in honor of her two daughters who had both died of breast cancer.  That is just unimaginable to me and when Jeannie told me about it I cried at the absolute tragedy of that, but also the hope and the love evidenced by this woman’s support of the walkers. 



  

1 comment:

BRAINCHEESE said...

I was rolling along just fine reading about the Otter Pops until the end of this post...then the tears started rolling. I am a firm believer, no matter WHAT the cause, inspiration and hope become contagious at these events.

And, as one of your primary commentors on this blog, I feel I can send a big "HooYah" out to Jeannie for instilling the gift of FEAR, I mean INSPIRATION, to the team!!!

Linda D. in Seattle