PODsitively crazy!

Okay, so you may have noticed that I have been slacking on the entries a bit. My, you are observant! (And correct!)

Here is the deal: My life is in a POD. You know...those nifty moving/ storage systems that allow you to cram all of your stuff into a cube and choose a date and location for their delivery? Well, unfortunately my poor dear husband packed everything we own into one of them thinking that we would snatch a house and move in quickly somewhere. We have snatched up a condo, but it will not be available to move in to until September 1st - 14th. (We don't know the exact date yet.)

The POD contains things such as important legal documents, my cookbooks, and much of my wardrobe. It also contains: our camera cord. I have been hesitant to post anything on here without visual aids, because I would certainly hate to bore you, but I am afraid that we are all going to have to use our imaginations here. That cord is packed away and it isn't coming back for a long, long time. (Oh dear, I miss my cookbooks!)

So, yes, this post will be mostly about work, but that has been my life lately:

WAM!
No, silly! Not the 80's group! The Make A Wish- "Wish A Mile" bike ride!

I first got to witness part of this last year when I happened to be in town the day that my brother in law, Steve pedaled his way across the finish line. I knew that it was 300 miles over the course of 3 days. The ride starts in Traverse City (top of the mitten) and runs all the way down to Chelsea (near Ann Arbor) While I cannot comprehend what it feels like to bike that, I knew that it was a big deal and I was incredibly proud of him. Steve had witnessed Vinnie receiving his wish and decided to give back.

This year, Steve decided that not only would he participate again, but that he would raise enough money to grant one full wish for another child. ($8,000. Yes, it costs that much!) He also decided that he would train harder and make both that and the fundraising a year-round effort.

I of course, now work for Make A Wish and teamed up with my co-worker Angie to volunteer to host a break stop every day. Amy and the kids followed along the tour driving from city to city and waiting for Steve to pedal in every day.

Let me paint a picture of the WAM experience: WAM is quite literally, a traveling city. It is amazing, and I have never seen anything quite like it. There are over 750 riders that need to be cared for over a 72 hour period and everything must be provided for them.

First, riders show up to the Chelsea fairgrounds, where they will eventually finish the race. Riders are given jersey's for the three days, and volunteers are given t-shirts. Everyone also receives a bracelet with the name of a wish child that they will be riding for, or keeping in mind as they volunteer.

The riders park their cars and there are 6 HUGE semi's waiting to carry the luggage and bikes. (Keep in mind that riders like my brother in law that have family going along don't even utilize this.) There are shuttle buses, after shuttle buses that they board and they are driven to Traverse City. Volunteers like me are given vans with all of our supplies in them and we drive separately.

Once there, volunteers decorate their vans and riders set up campsites or mattresses in a school gym, and we eat dinner. Lights out at 10:00. There is another semi available titled "Rubber Duckies" which is actually a really nice shower truck. (Hooray for no community showers!)

I am brushing over a lot of it, but let me tell you that there are some amazing people that do WAM every year. I think that my two favorites are the gentleman that does WAM on a unicycle, and the most inspirational rider of all: Kevin.

I am not sure of his condition, but Kevin only has the use of one arm and one leg. In order to bike, he has to create a sort of rocking motion with his body... and he does... for the entire 300 miles. Let me tell you, it makes someone like me, with four working limbs feel pretty lazy when you see Kevin take on some of the steepest hills I have ever seen. Go Kevin!

So now to the saga of Steve, Amy Erin and Vinnie:
Day One: Steve starts out great. All of a sudden, his spoke breaks and his gears stop working properly. He finishes anyway, but quickly hands over his bike to one of the "bike doctors" that travel along with the WAM.

Amy, noticing that Vinnie is looking a little pale, takes him to the hospital in Big Rapids, where it is quickly determined that he needs a blood transfusion asap. Unfortunately, in Northern Michigan, asap means that you have to wait for the blood to be shipped up to you. In this case, Vinnie had to wait for the blood to come from Grand Rapids, meaning that his transfusion would last until about 2 am. He is understandibly upset because he had plans to go with Erin and all of his WAM friends into the pool back at the hotel. He had even gotten a new watergun for the occasion. The hospital was also ill-equipped to deal with this type of situation. Poor kid! Fortunately, our Uncle Dale and Aunt Kitty were there to keep him entertained.

Later that evening, the bike doctor confirms that Steve's bike is toast. There is a crack in the frame and despite his training for the entire year, Steve cannot go on.

Day Two:
Vinnie's levels go up, but not enough. His doctor back at home determines that he needs to drive back so that he can receive another transfusion and so that his regular doctors can keep an eye on him. Vinnie does the most self-less thing and tells Steve to go to the "Wammy" awards that evening. We knew that Steve and his team were really looking forward to it and Vin thought that he should go. With a lot of tears in their eyes, Amy and Vinnie head back to the hospital in Detroit while Steve stays on.

The Wammy awards do turn out to be something incredibly special and we all got to see a three year old little girl named Amanda receive her wish to meet Elmo. If you haven't seen the video, I highly recommend it: www.wishmich.org/amanda
We also found out that the bike ride had raised $1.5 million! Not too shabby!

Our CEO knew that Vinnie was watching the awards from his hospital room and gave Vinnie a shoutout, which was pretty cool. Steve won an award for raising so much money, and his team: Team Nicholas, won the top fundraising award for a small team. When they went up to accept the award, the team captain (Nicholas' Dad) told everyone how much they loved Vinnie and that they were riding for him. More tears!

Last Day:
Everyone is in a great mood on the last day. The break stop that Angie and I ran, was quite frankly, the best. It also turned into a bit of a dance party. (Or...was I the only one dancing???) Anyway, it was great.

At the end of the day, we pulled into the celebration at the end known as "Heroes Hurrah" This is where the finish line was, and Steve borrowed a bike to ride the last two miles with his team. Riders and Volunteers alike are ushered into the "Wish Barn" where that aforementioned child that you are keeping in mind, is waiting for you to give you a medal!

My wish child was named Alexandra and she was adorable! I went to shake her hand and she pushed it aside to give me a great big hug. While we were waiting in line to go on stage, she gave us more hugs and couldn't stop bouncing around because she was so excited to be there! It was awesome!

Heroes Hurrah also included a kids area, and more importantly, FOOD! Everyone, and I mean everyone is invited to eat at Heroes Hurrah and the food is EXCELLENT! It is all donated by Carraba's (like Zio's to you Springfieldians) and it was the best thing that I could have tasted after the 3 days.

So that is WAM. It was so well-organized and the mere logistics of it will leave you awe-struck!

As for Vinnie, it has been determined that whatever is causing his levels to drop is viral in nature. He has been in the hospital one more time, but is home for now. We are hoping that it stays that way.

Next up in this month in review:

-Mick and I go to Frankenmuth
- Something very funny happens that I cannot put on this blog (Consider it an incentive to call me. Definitely worth it.)
- The condo saga

Stay tuned!