Team Hope Chest–Day 1

So I’m a little behind in posting about the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk.  It was November 5-7 and Team Hope Chest had 5 team members this year!  We had an absolute blast together!  The team was made up of me, Rebecca (my partner in crime..haha), Kristi (a parent and sub at our school), Melodee (a parent of one of my current students) and Erin (our PE coach’s wife). 

We all met at Rebecca’s house around 6:00 Friday morning and Cory drove us to Collin Creek Mall, which was the place of opening ceremonies.

Rebecca was gettin' her groove on to the awesome music they play!

My mom was our “team mom” for the weekend.   She met us early in the morning to come be a part of the opening ceremonies and met us at each cheer station to cheer us on for the day.

My best buddy Rebecca.  I am so glad she asked me to do this with her last year.  It is such an amazing experience!

 

Sweet hubby Cory!  He was so nice to take all of us and hang out for the opening ceremony. 

The whole 3 Day is an emotional experience.  You laugh, you cry, you pray, you hope, you hurt, you make new friends….I could go on and on.   The following signs are carried throughout the walk to remind us of why we are walking.  I have a current parent at school (and I had her other son a couple of years ago) that was just recently diagnosed with breast cancer.   I have a really good relationship with her family.  I was going to watch her son play baseball one day in the fall and she called to tell me that she had just gotten back from the doctor where she received the news.  It just gave me chills all over.  We talked for most of the game and her spirit is in such the right place.  She is positive and uplifting and is determined to beat this nasty cancer. 

The Survivor’s Circle…..

After a fun stretch, great music, and touching speech from the 3Day coordinator, the walk began!!!

It is so fun to see all the crazy get-ups on the walk.

Mr. April….there is a group of guys called the 60 Mile Men.  They make sure that there is someone from their group walking in each of the 3Day walks around the country.

This sweet lady was an inspiration.  She is currently going through treatment.  She would walk most of the time, pushing her own wheelchair.  When she would tire out, she would hop in and her teammates would carry her the rest of the way.

 

Cheer Station!

Team Mom was there cheering us on and Kristi joined her!  I keep telling Kristi that she needs to do the walk and she says that she’ll just continue to be our biggest supporter!  She is such a great friend and helped me raise close to $300 this year!

Lunchtime….

Lunchtime is fabulous because we actually sit for about 15 – 20 minutes.  We take off our shoes and socks and let our feet air out.  After we eat, we reapply Glide all over our feet and put on a fresh pair of socks.  The Glide really helps prevent blisters, so I use it religiously!

Soon after lunch was another cheer station.  JoAnn,  Ella and Cory joined in on this one!

Ella stayed with JoAnn on Thursday night so that we didn’t have to wake her up so early on Friday morning.  I was so happy to give her a squeeze!

My sweet family!  Cory had to work on Saturday, so he wanted to make sure he made it to a Friday cheer station.

Wonderful JoAnn!  She was a huge supporter of the walk and helped so much with Ella over the weekend of the walk.

A school along our route came out to cheer us on.

Erin was walking in memory of her mom who lost her battle with breast cancer about 5 years ago.

 

We made it!!!  The picture below was right after we crossed into camp!  We stayed on Brookhaven campus again this year.

When you get to camp on the first day, you have to go find your luggage on the truck that corresponds with the tent row you are in.  Everything is very very organized on this walk!  Then it was time to set up our tents!!

Home Sweet Home

After dinner, we head to the showers.  The showers are on a shower truck (18 wheeler) and they feel great!  The water is nice and hot.  You just want to stay in there forever!  After showers, the camp show begins.  The first night it was Glee Karaoke.  None of us were brave enough to go up on stage, but we sure had our own fun little party at the back!

Lights are out at 9:00 pm so that everyone heads to bed.  We had to be up early in the morning to be ready to go!

Friday night was pretty cold.  We slept in long sweatpants, and our jackets.  We put our clothes for the next day in our sleeping bag with us so they are a little warmer in the morning.  Day 1 was a success!!