Breast Cancer 3-Day Pics

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Welcome to Holland

My dear best friend Katie, whose son was diagnosed with Fragile X about 1 year ago, sent me this article which she received from a friend/mother in Canada. I think it's a very well written piece. I wanted to share it because it helps me better understand what Katie is going through with her sweet Ryan, but I also think this can be applied to other things in life that didn't quite work out the way we thought they would.


WELCOME TO HOLLAND
by Emily Perl Kingsley. c1987

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique
experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.

It's like this......when you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans.The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.
After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland." "Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy." But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.
The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease.
It's just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place.
It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."
And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.
But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things

...about Holland.

I did it... 60 miles in 3 days!!!

Woo hooo -- I did it! 60 miles in 3 days! The Breast Cancer 3-Day was an incredible experience! THANK YOU for your support, encouragement, and donations! To date, I raised $5,694.99 which is INCREDIBLE!!!

Here is a summary of my amazing experience…

I walked as part of a team called "Trisha's Trailblazers." Trisha is a 32 year old who was recently diagnosed with Imflammatory Breast Cancer, a rare and very aggressive cancer. This type of cancer is usually late Stage 3 or Stage 4. Things are changing daily with her diagnosis and treatment, so her family is keeping a blog to keep everyone updated. If you are interested, you can read more about Trisha and her status here: http://trishafaggiolly.blogspot.com/

Day 1 (Friday) was awesome! We started in south SF at the Cow Palace with opening ceremonies. Trisha’s mom was part of the opening ceremonies holding the “daughter” flag. Then we were off through the streets of south SF… here are some pictures of Trisha, her husband Oak, and their 2 year old son Caden greeting us as we started the walk. http://www.oakbarrett.com/3day/

We then walked to Lake Merced and over by the SF zoo, along the Great Highway and Ocean Beach, up through the Golden Gate Park and over by the Presidio and Pac Heights and down to the marina to over to our “home” Crissy field where we camped for 2 nights, which was amazing. Who can complain about camping under the Golden Gate Bridge?!

Day 2 was brutal – our longest day 24 miles – we went over the GG bridge down to Ft. Baker and through Sausalito and then on to Mill Valley. And it was a cooker - 90 degrees! The walk back from Mill Valley was definitely my lowest point -- the only way I got through it was by reminding myself that I was doing this for breast cancer and that my aches and pains were nothing compared to what cancer patients go through (chemo, etc.) On the final leg of Day 2, seeing our pink tents at camp from the GG bridge was the best sight ever! It was mentally and physically the hardest day for sure.

Day 3 (Sunday) was amazing... a cool, foggy morning (my favorite SF weather) ... We started from camp and walked the Pac Heights hills (ouch), through the GG park, down through downtown SF and down North Beach. The finish was a Ft Mason and the Marina Green. The closing ceremony was very touching – many survivors where there and it made every mile very worth it.

Today… I feel tired today but not super sore… and not one blister to show for the entire weekend!

Thanks again for your support and donations!

Is everyone doing ok?

My sweet Miles never fails to crack me up... we had a BBQ on Monday night with 2 other families from our neighborhood and while we were all eating, Miles suddenly got up and went around the table and asked each person "Is everyone doing ok?" It was so funny and he was being such a good host. We aren't sure where he got this? Perhaps from when we eat out? It sounds like something the waitress would say.

Later on that night, he asked if we could invite more people to our BBQ next time because he likes it when we have big BBQs. Oh Lord... he's showing early signs of being a party animal like his daddy.

Another funny thing... Miles suddenly started calling me "mom" yesterday, rather than "mommy". Mom seems too old and formal... I told him to call me mommy and now it's his own little joke to call me mom. (Maybe it's kharma since I jokingly call my mom "mother" which she doesn't like. LOL).

My new motto when people ask me for something

Kids...
Husbands...
Mother...
Co-workers...
Friends....



And Oliver has one too... for when Miles bugs him...

5 years

Derek and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary yesterday - yay! We both look back at our wedding day so fondly - we had a great celebration with our family and friends.

We had a wonderful dinner last night at The Plumed Horse in Saratoga. My amazing and very generous parents surprised us by paying for our dinner! At the end of the meal, the waiter came over and said "Your dinner has been paid for by John P. Ramstetter (my dad)" and we couldn't believe it. I started crying and Derek said "Stop crying, people are going to think I am breaking up with you!" LOL

Thank you mom and dad! You are way too good to us.

Happy Anniversary, Derek. I love you.

Steven Curtis Chapman

I am not sure if you've been following the Steven Curtis Chapman story about the loss of his youngest adopted daughter (http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/). There was an article/interview in People magazine this past week and it's just so tragic and sad. (Click here for an excerpt). He seems like an amazing man, father, husband, and song writer. I especially love his song Cinderella.

Here's a great interview of him about why he wrote the song Cinderella:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhDDzbA8unA&feature=related

Here's the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLYxtuC0oRk&feature=related

Great message, one that I need to remember.