Good evening His Middle Name family, friends and followers. Yesterday was our local March of Dimes "March for Babies" and the city was painted purple! I had to give myself the day after the festivities to just let it all soak in before I wrote this blog post, as it was such an amazing and uplifting event. I just wanted to be in the moment and enjoy the high that the morning had left me with, which seemed to last all day and well into the night. With that said, yesterday could not have been a more perfect day to reflect, honor and celebrate all of the babies born too soon. To see my community rally the way it did - with family teams connecting and sharing and strangers becoming friends - was so humbling it brought me to tears on more than one occasion. Everyone at the march was connected in this deeply personal way, even though our experiences with prematurity and how it has affected our lives may be different. Whether we were marching in remembrance of a child passed or a child that beat the odds, we were there to march together for the same goal - for stronger, healthier babies. Can you imagine that kind of energy in the air? It was electric and contagious!
We started our day like any other .... with breakfast! I love to host get togethers and parties, so I was happy to host a Team His Middle Name breakfast with all the trimmings before the march!
We started our day like any other .... with breakfast! I love to host get togethers and parties, so I was happy to host a Team His Middle Name breakfast with all the trimmings before the march!
The city in the morning sunlight - beautiful! Then it was off to the art museum for a morning of fun: team registration, incentives and give aways, music and meeting up with friends before the four mile march down the avenue!
F.Y.I. Team His Middle Name raised $700 - which was astounding given our team goal of $1000. That was 70% of our goal!!! I am so proud of our family, friends and coworkers for donating and sponsoring us in this year's march. It was incredibly generous of each and every individual that donated, and Team His Middle Name is so thankful! The money raised will go to funding important research, programs and education, and most importantly, help other mothers have healthy, full term pregnancies.
Needless to say, we had a blast (especially Sutton - I don't think he's ever seen more babies in one place)! As we started the march, we kept getting stopped and smiled at because of our son's big personality and festive stroller. It was pretty hard to miss because I had decorated it with signs, quotes and a banner that had our team logo and Sutton's birth weight: 2 pounds, 5 ounces. His weight was even printed on the back of our team shirts - behind us, but an ever present reminder of how far he had come. How far we had come as a family. As we marched down the avenue, I had a moment to stop and look out at all the people that had come together to march. I couldn't even see where the march began or ended, as the crowd spanned further than the eye could see. I looked on, awestruck. I had a moment to thank God for giving me and my family the opportunity to be apart of something so special. I thanked God for giving us Sutton. And for a moment, I thought I could hear my own heart pounding out a song of gratitude, only to look over and see a small band marching along, drumming out a beat. It wasn't my heart beating loudly, but I sent my thoughts of gratitude and my hopes for the future out with those drum beats and into the wind ..... who knows where they'll end up.
In memory of what will never be again ...
... and in honor of Sutton Matthew.
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