Thanks to my dad, who lives in Flagstaff. We appreciate your home away from home.
YOORAY to the Susan G. Komen walk for the cure for cancer. We raised over $5 million this weekend on our 3 day walk. There were 2,120 walkers in the Phoenix area on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
How thankful I am to all my family, friends, my kids friends, and friends of friends for all your donations and support. THANK YOU to all my support group for your donations!!! For three days prior to the walk I began receiving donations from people I don't even know (yet). It was emotional for me to open my email on numerous occasions and see that I had received a donation from someone I don't know. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for all your support. I felt like the waitress and cop in "It Could Happen To You" when the city of New York sent money to two people they didn't know, just to show their support.
When I count my blessings my support group is at the top of that list. Someone is looking out for me, or rather I should say thousands of people are looking out for me. Thank you for your prayers on my behalf this past weekend, and for your messages and phone calls while I was walking. Thank you to those who came to the cheering stations to encourage, and show your love on our behalf. I knew it would be an emotional weekend but I had no idea it would turn out like it did.
My sister-in-law Carolyn, along with the help of Mauri, put together a wonderful book of those who sent pictures holding a sign saying you are on Darla's Team. Thank you for sending your pictures in, I can look at that book for hours and spend a great deal of time on each picture thinking about you and the memories we have had together. How grateful I am for your friendships. Thanks Mauri for "hacking" into my email account and sending an email out to my friends. Thank you Carolyn for such a fun idea.
Here we are with Carolyn when she came to one of the rest stops. She brought Mauri's baby Wesley so he could nurse. Oh why not, it's a weekend about the breasts.
Another sister-in-law Melanie and her family made candy lays and gave them to Mauri, Jenna, and me as we entered the closing ceremony after 3 long hard days of walking. The lays were a big hit, not only to the three of us but to hundreds of fellow walkers who thought they were pretty cool. Thank you Melanie, Jane, Thomas, and Brad.
Here is a picture of us when Melanie came to one of the rest stops.
Thank you mom for being there for me. I know it's hard to think your child may die before you. I know you would rather have this disease and just take it away from me, moms are like that. But don't worry I called the doctor during the walk and found out my cancer count had gone down almost 200 points. I'm doing great! Well, all except for the blisters I have on the bottom of my feet from the walk. Maybe not so much blisters plural, but just one huge blister covering the entire foot.
Thank you especially to my wonderful kids for all their love and support. THANK YOU Mauri and Jenna for walking with me and encouraging me every step of the way, not only now but throughout my life. Thank you to my son Daniel for his blog posts, heartfelt prayers, and always knowing just the right thing to say. And to all my kids and their spouses for your love and support. I know it's hard to know how to be supportive when you just want the disease to go away, when you just want the pain to go away. How do you show someone how much you care about them?
NOW FOR THE WALK...
Here we are ready to begin our journey.
My wonderful kids.
Opening ceremony, pink, pink, and more pink.
We had cheerleaders along the entire route. Neighborhoods coming out on every street passing out popsicles, cold cloths to wipe our necks, candy, stickers, ice water, etc. The support of the entire city was amazing. Practically every car honking as they drove past us. I think we only caused two accidents because the drivers were looking at us instead of the road.
On Friday when school was in session, the elementary school kids had pink ribbons and signs on their school yard fence showing their support. And the children all stood at the fence with their hands sticking through the chain link fence wanting to give us a 'high five' as we walked past.
Here we are at one of the rest stops. Still smiling.
The sprinklers came on while we were walking through this park. Startling but refreshing.
Lots of fun signs held up by the Phoenicians. This one was one of our favorites.
The walkers could carry banners along the route. We held these two for awhile and then you pass them on to another walker.
End of the first day, and our sea of pink tents.
Here are my cute girls walking in front of me across the over pass on Interstate 10.
Some of my fabulous friends from Scottsdale came to one of the cheering stations. Thank you Lesa, Leanne, Jill, Brenda, and Cindy.
Close to ASU, 'A' Mountain is ahead of us, but I'm not sure you can see the 'A' on the hillside.
We had a nice breeze when we were walking down the Mill Avenue bridge across the Tempe Lake.
Beautiful scenery through the desert.
Informative signs at each rest stop telling you how far you've gone and how far until the end.
Even baby Wesley wears a shirt that says, "I wear pink for my Grandma".
And of course there must be porta-potties at every stop.
There was a lot of community support. How cool is a pink breast cancer firetruck? And YES you see a wheelchair in this picture. There were several people being pushed by their friends in a wheelchair. Friends don't let friends walk alone.
We all got to sign the firetruck.
At the finish line.
Gathering for the closing ceremony.
Entering Scottsdale Stadium for the closing ceremony.
The cancer survivors were given pink shirts and the support walkers had white shirts. As the survivors walked in the support walkers held up their shoes.
Three happy but tired walkers. Thank you all!!!
