Walking across Wisconsin (one mile at a time...)

 

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(I know some of you may have already read part of this blog from an e-mail I sent a couple of weeks ago.  I wanted to include it anyway for those of you who are just now joining us.  Plus, I figure I tend to repeat myself in real life, why should my blog be any different?  The bonus of reading a blog is that you can always skip it, I'll never know the difference.  Whereas if I'm talking to you and repeating myself, if you leave, I'll probably notice.)

This summer, we formed Team Sunny Days in honor of Ellie's wish to Sesame Street in 2006.  The first Make-A-Wish walk was in Milwaukee.  It was a warm, muggy August day, rain was definitely in the air.   The location for the walk was absolutely breathtaking, along a path bordering Lake Michigan.  We got a slow start as Ellie wanted to talk to all of the volunteers along the way and give them her special double cross hand snuggle (aka the infamous "doucrancruggle"). 

As we walked, Ellie was getting a bit tired.  Her feet were beginning to hurt.  Ellie decided to switch to her new "swim walk" (aka "the swalk") which means she uses her arms as if she is swimming and walks at a faster pace.  Suddenly it started to rain, and Ellie became confused because you are most definitely NOT supposed to get wet on a swim walk, that is part of the point, that you can swim without the hassle of getting wet.  She sort of spluttered as if she were thinking how appaling it was of the sky to throw water at her in this way, particularly when she was working so hard to stay dry.

 

Ellie was given a special yellow t-shirt that said "Wish Kid" on the back, so that every volunteer and participant who saw her knew that she had had a wish granted.  Many of them would start yelling and cheering when they saw Ellie, encouraging her on. 

 

At one point, a man joined us as we walked.  He had written in the name of his daughter and the years that she had been alive on the front of his t-shirt.  He told us that he always walked with the participants who were at the end of the line because when his daughter was alive, they were always the last ones.  He told us how his daughter, a teenager at the time, had chosen as her wish to travel to some Islands in the Caribbean and go shopping (my kind of wish!!)  I was so inspired by this man's ability to not only carry on, but to walk in honor of his daughter.  And to walk so that other children could have the opportunity to have their wishes come true. 

 

Manitowac Make-A-Wish Walk (October 4, 2008)

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Ellie decided that we could only take Wish walks in cities that had a "walk" in their names.  Get it?  MilWALKee and ManitaWALK. 

Saturday (October 4) was an absolutely perfect day for a walk.  Bright fall blue skies, fall foliage just begining to bloom, and once again right beside Lake Michigan, but this time we were at a crisp 52 degrees. 

Ellie had a hard start, she was feeling tired and her feet were hurting.  We decided to do the 1 mile fun walk, rather than attempt the 5K.  Ellie sat down on a bench for about 2 second rest and then decided to carry on with the walk. 

The walk in Milwaukee had been huge, probably close to a thousand people.  It was extremely organized, lots of volunteers, a stage, even Barney was there.  The one in Manitowac had maybe 60 people there. 

One team wore t-shirts in honor of a boy who had a wish and was no longer around to do the walk.  Whenever I see those t-shirts, I feel like I have no reason to complain about anything.  Ellie is with us now, spreading her joy as much as she possibly can.  But seeing t-shirts in memory of wish kids makes me quesion myself.  Am I truly appreciating my kids?  Am I being as kind as I would like?  Am I present for the life we have created together (or am I too focused on all of the doingness of motherhood)?  How can I be the mom I strive to be more of the time so that I am appreciating these two precious gifts I've been given?   

I had fancied up Ellie's Wish Kid t-shirt with sparkles, beads, green lace, and fringe.  Maybe 25 of the participants at the walk were young beauty pageant winners.  One was even Miss Teenage Wisconsin. (She high "twentied" Ellie during the walk.  Ellie doesn't think a high five is enough, she does all hands at once calling it a high twenty.)  After the walk, one of the beauty pageant winners very calmly and quietly came up to Ellie took off her crown so that Ellie could feel it because she could see how much Ellie liked sparkly, glamorous things.  It was much heavier than you would have expected (not like the ones I've tried on at Discount Party Warehouse, those are surprisingly light).  Well when the other pageant winners saw that one of their own was talking to Ellie, there was suddenly a swarm of pageant girls around Ellie and then just as suddenly some of the moms were taking lots and lots of pictures, while Ellie stood there covering her face and yelling (I'd really like to see how those photos turned out!)  I told Ellie afterwards that she was like a celebrity at the Wish Walk and that oftentimes celebrities do not want there photo taken, but guess what happens?  You got it, they get there photo taken. 

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Thom said that the part he felt most emotional about was when we went to the donation table and he said, "Here's Ellie, she raised $2100!"  (Of course we couldn't have done it without all of your help!!!)  The person sitting behind the desk hadn't realized we had raised so much money and was simply astonished.  At the ceremony beforehand, she talked about how they have 14 wishes in progress right now in that area of Wisconsin, so any money we raised is actually already being used.  She is going to e-mail us the information on the wish that we will be co-sponsoring.  I feel so filled with excitement that very soon another child will be looking forward to and experiencing the magic of a wish, partially because of all of us!  Go team Sunny Days!