Goodbye Sweet Girl

I know my last post said "Blah".
It's still pretty blah, but never so blah that I won't take the time to honor the memory
of one of our beloved children.

Our sweet girl left us last night.

She had so many close calls in her short life, we hoped that this would be another.
That she would again defy all the predictions about her. That she would again rally.
That she would again come home to the people who loved her.
But, this time, it was not to be.

She did go home, just not back to St. Mary's.
We won't see her incredibly sweet face anymore except in our hearts & memories.

What I wouldn't give to see her as she is now - whole, not struggling for every breath,
laughing as she runs to greet the angels.

Goodbye sweetheart.


(I haven't had to put one of these up in a very long time. That in itself is a blessing.)

A Day In The Life . . .

Chris Tyree, an incredibly gifted photographer, came to St. Mary's last week for a day.
Just one day.
(He has been here before.)
Mind you, this was not just someone taking snapshots.
He has a gift. He is an artist.
His pictures are gorgeous - the angles, the light.
I'm a little jealous. I've never made our kids look so beautiful.
He captured the goings on in the Home,
and a surprising number of the pictures were NOT posed.
They were serendipity.
He showed nothing that doesn't occur there during an ordinary day.
Any day.
Every day.
These pictures show our kids as any other kids -
pensive, happy, engaged, active, busy, having fun.
With people they love and that love them.
They are our family.

Chris, thank you for capturing that so well.























Chris works with a group that focuses on capturing images of & for non-profits.
Hopefully, the pictures will shine light on the good work
that goes on all around us, sometimes unknown & unseen.
They bring those lights out from under the bushel.
Their website isn't finished yet, but when it is up, I will link it.

RUN... no, SWIM... no, RUN!!!

On any given early morning at the beach,
before the hoards of tourists fill every possible space,
you'll see empty stretches of sand...



being groomed and cleaned.



Empty beach chairs awaiting bodies smelling of coconut & Coppertone.




But the calm emptiness of Saturday's hot muggy morning was deceptive.
You see, if I just turn a bit to my left, this is what I'll see...



It's the Allen Stone Memorial Run Swim Run & 5k.
It wasn't always called the "Allen Stone" run.
The race started in 1999 as the "Brave Heart Run-Swim-Run",
and Allen Stone, a member of our local Navy SEAL team, competed.
It was to be his last race.
He died in a training accident.
His friends, also the race's organizers, changed the name of the race in his memory.

So, it's a race, right?
It involves people running along the beach.
You know what that means?

Team Hoyt VB (the Virginia Beach chapter of Team Hoyt),
led by Trey White, was there in full force.
3 of our kids were able to go.
I've written about them before, here & here, for example.
If you don't feel like going back & looking, I'll summarize:

Take a bunch of athletes with hearts big to bursting,
add in children & young adults with disabilities who couldn't participate in a race on their own,
throw in jogging strollers, inflatable boats, lots of planning and even more determination,
and the result is magic.
Magic for the kids who can escape their disabilities for a while.
Magic for the athletes who get to see the joy on their faces
at the feeling that there's nothing they can't do.
Wherever you are, if you have the opportunity, you should see see this at a race in your area.

I love that Team Hoyt refers to the kids as the athletes
and themselves as their pushers.

Anyway, I took 377 pictures, but after all, my family's motto is "more is better",
so I tend to get carried away.
Bear with me, I'll leave a few out. But just a few.
Okay, more than a few, but I like them all.
You can click on any picture to enlarge it.
As usual, they are unedited, straight from the camera
(except for a 3 crops).
Sorry RAD, I know that makes you crazy.


SETTING UP:
A good-hearted and generous benefactor
(I don't know who. Help me out Trey, I'd like to give them credit)
donated a trailer to Team Hoyt.
They've come a long way since a few strollers stuffed into the back of a pick-up truck.

edited to add: I have been told that the trailer was donated by
The Noblemen, a local philanthropic group of more people with
hearts big to bursting.














GETTING READY:

















FINDING OLD FRIENDS:





(shirtless men. yesssss...)












Can he get him to smile?


YES!



THE SEALS:
Since Allen Stone was a SEAL, their parachute team...



makes a jump in his memory.










THE START:
There were 2 simultaneous starts - the 5k (on the boardwalk)
& the Run-Swim-Run (on the beach).
I was on the boardwalk for that part.





















THE SWIM:
I want you to know that the swimmers are pulling those boats behind them.
That's incredibly hard to do.


















THE FINISH:







AFTERMATH:
No, wait, that's not right.
I think there's a better word.....

AFTERGLOW:
There's exhaustion.
There's exhilaration.
There's the task for those same exhausted & exhilarated people
to get everything back in the trailer.

















RANDOM FAVORITES:






Whew!
Thanks to those of you who stuck it out to the end.
Participating in this uplifted me.
Thanks to Trey White & Team Hoyt for making this possible.