A Sea of Red

Finally, a time to sit and chat. Just imagine you are on the other side of the phone and I'm telling you all about my last two weeks. I have so much to share with you.

I'm not one to do normal things, probably because I'm not your normal type of person. So, when Katelynn informed me that she needed to have her 13th birthday party the weekend before the Relay for Life event (because friends were moving away or going to be on vacation) I was a little nervous if I could do it all, but by gosh I was not going to let that girl down one more time. My kids have sacrificed A LOT these last 20 months. We had given Katelynn the option of having a birthday party or getting to travel to Alaska with my cousin Kellie to see her brother Brett this summer. Well, obviously she decided on the birthday. I think she had been dreaming of a 13th birthday with both girls and boys for some time.

So far all of Katelynn's friends have had a pool party and sleep over for the girls. We were challenged in that area considering we don't have a pool. I do what I always do and prayed for a good idea. I was looking at a magazine and saw an advertisement for an outside deck product with a picture of a family watching TV outside. It reminded me of our family vacations when we would go to the drive-in but instead of seating in our cars we would put lawn chairs out around the speaker. Wonderful childhood memory. I asked Katie what she thought of having a movie night out side and she loved the idea and so did her friends.

The movie night was the Friday evening one week before the Relay. I haven't felt like I've stopped since then. It ended up being a huge success!! I told one of my bosses my idea and where he thought I could rent a projector like we use in our conference room. His response was, "use this one." He also gave us a huge painters cloth to use as the screen. My sister got a popcorn machine (just like the movie theaters) from her girl scout contact, and Jim's parents let us borrow their fire pit to roast hot dogs. We purchased a lot (I mean a lot ) of candy to make a concession stand. What more do you need but hot dogs, popcorn, soda, and candy. It was so much fun!!

I wish we would have left it at that but she wanted the girls to spend the night. This was the beginning of 7 days of late nights. It was 5:15 am on Saturday morning when I finally told the girls they had to go to sleep. When I got up two hours later there were two girls still awake. I couldn't believe it. To be young (and healthy) again!

It was so much fun that we had my cousin Kellie, her husband Dan, and the boys over for Father's Day and watched another movie, roasted more hot dogs, and of course used the popcorn machine again. Kel and I decided we need to invest in a popcorn machine we can share.

After all the movies nights were completed I could focus primarily on the Relay.

I didn't think I had much to do yet every day there was something else I came up with that needed to get done. Sandy and Erika were is charge of decorating our site. I had designed and had the t-shirts printed, and then decided to have drawstrings bags printed (thanks Aunt Sherrie & Ashley for encouraging me to do this). I was also going to pick up the items for our raffle (Beach Bundle of Hope) from money donated from our corporate sponsors. This was just too much fun that I kept thinking of more items to get.

We had many people who blessed us for the details of this event. Our friend Kim McClusky called the lifeguard station in Newport Beach and asked if we could borrow anything to use as decorations. They called me to confirm the event and date and graciously agreed to give us a few items. My sister Ashley picked up a few lifeguard tubes from Newport Dunes (she has worked there every summer), which we used one as our Relay Walking Stick. My sweet anonymous relative donated a bundle of bags filled with sunscreen products. Erika and Allie made Breast Cancer Awareness bracelets, and Katie made pony beaded lifeguard and Christian crosses. And to top it off my Aunt Katie and Uncle Lee gave us their motor home to use for the weekend.

Friday night was set up night. Katie had 3 of her friends and Matt had his best buddy too (yes, six teenagers for 48 hours). We all met the Poblete's and Erika's friends at Santana park to build our site. It was the first time that I got to see their design. They were so creative. They built two lifeguard towers out of washer machine boxes (thanks Howards) and used PVC pipe to represent the railing of the tower that attached beach warning flags. All of this was placed on top of an EZ-up.

(Note: I loaded one photo and then poof gone and it won't let me load anymore...I guess it's something for you to look forward to, until I can figure out what is wrong you'll have to use your imagination. But trust me it's so much better than you can imagine).

We quickly realized that because of the wind and possible dew during the evening we couldn't assemble it to remain overnight. It was going to be an earlier morning than we first thought. We decided to meet at 7:30 am. You have to understand...my body can barely move in the morning because of the pain I am in. To get me moving by then is a true accomplishment - to be some where by then would have to take a miracle. Well, you know I believe in miracles!!

After leaving the park, we went home to make signs, get every one's t-shirts bagged, wash clothes, pack food, drinks, and anything else we would need for the next 24 hours. Trust me those 6 teenagers are grateful I "MADE THEM" bring sweatshirts and so many blankets. I also made them go to bed by Midnight because they were getting up at 6:30. Of course I had to get up at 5:00 am so I could take my pain meds so my body would move. But because I had gone to bed at 12:45 am and woke 4 hours later, my body was fine. I did really well.

I was a little nervous to attend the Relay. This was my first one. I didn't know what to expect. Not only did we meet the Poblete's at 7:30 am but most of my dad's side of the family were there early too so we had LOTS of help. I'm so grateful. I was a little overwhelmed (this happened several times during the day). Sandy, Carlos, and Erika are great to work with because they are so relaxed. They help me to keep my perspective. With everyone there we were more than ready for the Opening Ceremony and Survivors lap. Carlos had us take a picture with everyone in front of the site. I can't wait to share it. It was a sea of red lifeguard shirts. It touched me more than words could ever describe...the amazing thing was that was only half of the people who showed up for the day. At my last count we had 75 people who showed up to walk for Together for Traci.

I didn't get emotional during the Opening Ceremony until the releasing of the doves. Doves always remind me of my Papa and Granny. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about them. Immediately afterwards the Survivors walk began. I grabbed each of my aunts hands (Aunt Joyce and Aunt Katie) and walked the track proud. I would give anything if we didn't have to make that walk, but Aunt Katie reminded me we can celebrate that we are still here and able to walk. It's all in the perspective.

The second lap Jim and the kids joined me until they dropped me off to have breakfast with all the survivors. They had a raffle and of course my Aunt Joyce won something. My Aunt Kate and I were only a number off here and there. As we sat there we could watch as our family and friends were walking the track. Our team was so blessed that we normally had more than one person on the track at a time. It was more like 3 to 4 at a time. The breakfast was a nice time but I couldn't wait to get back to our site and join everyone.

Every team is encouraged to have on-site fundraisers. Ours was the raffle, drawstring bags, bracelets, key chains, and the bags of sunscreen. The sunscreen was a last minute addition because we didn't know what to expect when I was told we would be receiving them. I thought there would be small little bottles in sandwich bags. Instead they were large bottles in grocery bags. There was at least $70 worth of sunscreen in every bag that we sold for $10. We ran out within 2 hours, so my sweet anonymous donor, took our drawstring bags and filled them with the sunscreen, and then we sold them for $20. We had 50 bags and I think I only had 1 or 2 extra (and now those are gone).

Our site was so busy and we got so many comments on how everything looked. I was afraid we looked so official that people were going to stop by for medical aide. Thank goodness the Corona police and fire department were there too.

I will never forget my family and friends walking around that track during the day. My only regret was that I don't feel like I got quality time with everyone. We had the morning crew, the day crew, and the midnight madness crew. I have to say my daughter blessed me to no end. She walked and walked and walked. Matthew was there in the morning, and then took over after the Luminary Ceremony. They are both still trying to recover from lack of sleep.

Right before the Luminary Ceremony we were told we had to turn in our on-site fundraising money. That little bit took Sandy and I off guard, and we had to leave our site to go count money. We were so pleased to be able to turn in $1,163.00. Our goal was to raise $1,500.00 which we had already surpassed with our online fundraising of $1,740.00 (which hasn't been completely tabulated with our offline donations). It's possible that we doubled our goal. Yeah!!

The Luminary Ceremony began at 9:00 pm. They had started placing the bags around the field during the day and then lighted them before the ceremony. At the end of the ceremony the lights on the field are completely turned off and then the bag pipes were played and everyone followed on the track. The first lap was very quiet (and crowded) and then the second lap you could see people stopping at bags of the people they knew. Jim and I said it made us very sad.

After the ceremony I was just exhausted and ready to crawl in the motor home and crash for the night. The kids were all ready for the Midnight madness party. Did I mention the motor homes were parked right next to the stage? I can still hear the DJ's music bumping in my head. When I looked out the window at 2:30 am the track was still full of people. I couldn't believe it.

At 6:30 am the announcer came on and said, "Good Morning Everyone!" I wasn't feeling too good right about then. I got up around 7:00 and Jim came and got me at 8:00 am. By the time I made it to our site they had pretty much had it all tore down and ready to pack up. I had the opportunity to meet a mom and her children who had walked around the track for 24 hours straight. I couldn't help myself but to scream and cheer them on when they crossed the starting line for the last time. I didn't ask why they were participating because I wasn't sure if I could handle hearing the "who" they were walking because. I've learned there is always a "who."

It wasn't until 9:30 am that they began to announce all the details. This year's Corona Relay had raised over $212,000 so far. They announced the teams with the most fundraising, the best spirit, and out of 102 teams, WE won the trophy for Best Decorated Site! It was a great way to end the event.

I just can't wait to share all the pictures. I'm hoping to even put together a slide show. As my head clears I know I will be sharing other thoughts and fun memories.

I will take away so many wonderful memories of this weekend. I still can't believe the Poblete's wanted to have this team in honor of me. I was truly honored, but mostly importantly touched by the love of family and friends, and even the friends of friends. I hope others realize how much we need each other - especially in times like these.

If there is anything you are going to invest in - please invest it in people. Nothing else really matters.