The Reason

My mom was diagnosed with MS when I was 7 years old. She battled a poorly understood disease for 16 years before her body decided it had had enough. I clearly remember doing the MS walk with my mom every year as a young child. Sometimes we'd start the walk and it would be too much for her in the heat (we lived in California) so we'd ride the air-conditioned shuttle to the end. Other times she'd feel strong enough to make it all the way through. After she passed away, I felt compelled to keep doing the walks and raise money for the organization that had helped my mother get through some really rough times. 

When I moved to RI, I didn't know anyone and ended up doing the first walk here by myself. Later that year, I found out a friend at work organized a team in honor of her dad who continues to battle with MS. We usually do the 6.2 scenic walk in Narragansett, but she was unable to attend this year so I opted to do the one held in Providence instead.

I woke up early on Sunday to a dreary morning. It was drizzling and kind of cold out. It wasn't the most motivating conditions to get up and go for a walk. I always told myself that I would involve my kids in this event. It is important to me that they know their grandmother, even if they were never able to meet her. The thought of pushing them for 3 miles in the rain was not at the top of my happy list, but then something occurred to me. My mom took my brother and I every year, rain or shine, feeling able-bodied or not, to show our support for this wonderful cause. I immediately pulled up my big girl undies and thought, "If my mom could do it year after year, so can I". I loaded up the kiddos, all by myself, and headed out to the walk.

I bundled them up and was one of the first people to head out when the walk began. The baby slept for about 30 minutes of it and the boy was so well behaved. We finished up and headed home. I was filled with a sense of pride for taking the first steps to introduce them to this event. I hope that they will always want to do this with me, in honor of their grandmother and all of the men and women living with this disease.

Thanks to some wonderful friends (IRL and bloggy buddies) and family, I was able to raise $555.00 this year!! This is the most I've ever raised and hope to keep raising my goal every year!