2008 Epilepsy Walk Around Kentuckiana

What a day we had today! Great weather, family and friends all gathered for the Epilepsy Walk. It was great to visit with old friends that we haven’t seen in a year, and make new ones! You get to know the other teams who walk year after year, and this year, we had the great privilege of meeting Joshua. Joshua and his team, Joshua’s Helping Hands, have been walking years longer than we have, and it was nice to finally meet Joshua and his family. I was able to talk Kate and Joshua into posing for a quick photo.

Even though my family was running late this morning, we still had time for some quick photo ops before the program began. Here is our team (with the exception of a couple), all gathered and ready to go.

While we were all together, and sisters were sitting with sisters, I had to get a few more photos. Here’s Kate and Mallory together, posing like they always do,

then my aunt and mother, with Kate and Mallory hamming it up behind them.

Since it’s so rare that we are like this all together, here’s my sister, Carrie.

For those of you who claim that Jeanne and I must have been sisters separated at birth, here’s a pic of Jeanne and me.

Of course, before you begin something as strenuously as walking around the zoo, everyone knows that you need to warm up and get your blood pumping. This is always my favorite part of the walk, the aerobic warm up during the opening. This year it was to Elvis and as I turned around and looked behind me, here’s our team – the same ones warming up as always.

We had a couple of hours to stroll around the zoo, and here we are heading out.

Carrie started out walking with me and Jeanne, and we actually thought we were behind the rest of the team. Wrong! We were in front, but didn’t know it. Jeanne and I made a quick stop, and Carrie decided to go ahead and we would catch up with her. During our stop, my mother and aunt ended up catching up with us. It seemed like we were all spread out, everyone going their own way. We never saw Carrie again – actually not one of us had run into her. With just a few minutes left, Jeanne and I walked into the stage area and here is what we found!

Carrie, sitting on the bleachers with her feet up. She walked as quickly as she could all around the zoo, and I forgot that she still had a broken toe on her right foot and her left was swollen.

Because of your generosity, we were able to raise $2,610 of the $60,000 raised for the Louisville Walk. We didn’t come close to the top three teams, who raised (approximately) $10,000, $8,000 and $7,500, respectively. We are however, very proud of ourselves for raising what we did this year! In the past two years, we’ve averaged just around $500 a year. We set our bar higher this year and hope to continue to grow with each passing year. Thanks to all of you who contributed to our efforts – what a difference you helped us make!

I almost forgot. You’ve seen the front of the shirts in the photos above, but not the back.

(Jeanne’s back after a long afternoon nap!)

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and I’m sure there will be more adventures to share in the upcoming days!