"March of Dimes" (4/27/14)

Being a part of the Columbus Mothers of Twins Club has given me a wonderful support system and a chance to do things that I probably wouldn't have done if not a member.  Every year, they form a team for the March of Dimes, or March for Babies, if you will.  It is a 5K walk to raise money to support babies who are born prematurely and to help those babies that aren't born yet NOT be born prematurely.  Given that I had only been a member since that previous October, this would be my first MOD walk and since this hit so close to home, I knew this was something I wanted to do in order to help babies like Colin and Nathan.

I started my fundraising by sending out emails to basically everyone who was on my Nathan's Nightly Update emails.  I set my goal at $250.  Boy was I aiming low.  I surpassed that goal in the first 4 hours of sending out the emails.   I kept needing to raise my goal because our friends and family were being extremely generous.  In the end, I ended up raising $2700 for MOD.  I was absolutely thrilled.  

At the CMOTC meeting before the actual walk, there was a man there to talk about what was going to happen on the actual day.  He told us about the Remembrance Tree.  Parents can wear white lei's around their necks while they walk. The lei's had a tag on them and on the tag, we can write the name of a child that has already ran their race and then at the end of the walk, we can hang them on a tree.  As he was talking about that, I began to cry.  That was going to be extremely difficult to do when the time comes.

He also mentioned that there would be the Field of Hope.  We could give them the names of babies that you are walking either in memory of or in honor of and they would put it on a star and it would be a field filled with these stars.  

Our team captain, Kim, said a few more things that we needed to know about the walk and then she mentioned me and how much money I had raised.  I was considered a "Top Walker."  Out of everyone in the Columbus area, I was in 3rd place for raising the most money as an individual.  I wasn't necessarily proud of myself so much as I was Colin and Nathan.  Yet again, they are doing great things while up in heaven.  I just sent out emails.  That was it.

Kevin and I before the walk

The day of the walk was a beautiful day.  Id be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit apprehensive about how I was going to do on the walk.  But once we arrived, we found the CMOTC group and talked with them until it actually started.  I had my white lei's around my neck ready to walk for my sweet sweet boys.

I did great on the actual walk.  It was around Easton Town Center and we just talked with some of my friends basically the entire time.  It wasn't until we got towards the end that we got pretty emotional.

First we stopped at the Field of Hope to find Colin and Nathan's Stars.  We were happy that they were right next to each other.

Colin's Star in the Field of Hope

Nathan's Star in the Field of Hope

Colin and Nathan's Stars

Kevin and I with their stars

After we found the stars, we took them out of the ground and headed over to the Remembrance tree.  It was heartbreaking to not only see how many white leis were hanging on that tree, but having to add two more to it.  

Colin and Nathan's Lei's

Fighting back the tears

The Remembrance Tree

The tree is where I lost it.  I never thought my life's journey would take me here.  My friend from the club saw me crying and gave me a huge hug.  I felt so unlucky and lucky at the same time.  Unlucky because I lost my boys but lucky because I have so many people who love me and were going to help me through this time.

All in all, my first March of Dimes was a success.  I was proud of how much money was raised by the club itself (over $10,000) and I was proud of myself for continuing to do good with what happened.  I think Colin and Nathan were shinning down on us that day as we walked for tiny babies like them.