Hey Friends,
A lot happened on Saturday. We spent the day walking around the city looking at all of its beauty. The traffic was crazy, and Alicia had almost gotten struck by a bus! After walking a good 3 miles around the city we all went back and relaxed before the walk.
Going to the walk sparked a lot of emotions. Everything started settling in about why I was doing the walk. There were many generous faces there, and I finally met my coach who works for the foundation in New York. Over 2,000 people came to support the cause and participate in the walk, and together we raised 1.9 million dollars! After signing in I received a golden bead neck-lace, representing losing a parent to suicide. The opening ceremony was very emotional. Rob Gebbia spoke of why we were doing the walk, and dedicated this specific walk to all the men and women serving out country. It was very hard during the opening ceremony to obtain a dry eye. There was a moment I wanted to fall to my knees and sob. But I had such great supportive friends with me that they helped give my legs strength to stand.
We started the walk off a little after 7 p.m. Beginning the walk was difficult emotionally. It was as though I was walking through a wall. I spoke to my awesome friend Gayle about the difficulty and she just kept walking with me, thank-you! There was so much energy, and joy. Many thanks go out to the cheerleaders that were along the walk, they kept us going. Their cheers and thanking us for walking really gave me a lot of drive to keep going.
Walking all of these miles at first seemed like a piece of cake. But about mile 6 we could all feel the pain in our feet. Luckily there were rest stops about every 2 miles. There was plenty of water and delicious snacks to keep us going. The weather was muggy and we even received a little rain, but the rain became very refreshing. Poor Christine hurt her hip, Alicia had bad pain in her shin that became rock hard, Gayle became stiff, and I developed a good size blister. Crossing the finish line our team looked like we had just been beaten up, but we made it! But 4 a.m. we were walking to the finish line with many passionate people clapping and cheering.
Crossing the finish line was like breathing life all over again. There were thousands of white bags that everyone personally decorated lined up at the finish line. Each bag had a candle placed in it. Doing this I knew that I was saving a life, and always remembering my mother. We were welcomed to a quick breakfast, and then attended a closing ceremony.
The closing ceremony was as emotional as the opening one. There were some great singers there, and a courageous man spoke of his attempt to commit suicide. Hearing his story was very powerful, showing that we can help people. We got back to our hotel at 6 a.m. and snoozed away.
Doing this walk was very powerful. This was a journey that helped me personally understand there is more to life than grief. Doing this helped me to breathe life again. Together we saved lives. When I started this journey I didn't think I would be able to do this, but because of all of my many friend (both new and old) encouragement, they made it possible. Thank-you,thank-you. The gift of saving a life is more than we all will know, by saving that one life you save their loved ones as well. Thank-you.
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