WalkMS 2008

While the final tally is not yet in, as it stands today Team Wearing Red Shoes has raised over $13,700 is the TOP fundraiser for the Marietta WalkMS and is #3 fundraising team in the entire state of Georgia!

All I can say is Wow.

I am so honored and so humbled by the generosity of so many people.
Our entire team completed the 5k cheering and dancing across the finish line in our red shoes.

What a wonderful event it was. The NMSS did a great job organizing and planning. And I was never more proud than when Roy announced "...our top team in first place...Wearing Red Shoes!" Amazing.

At one point right before the race it was asked for a show of hands in the 900+ crowd of how many people out there were currently living with MS. I was surprised at the small number of people that raised their hands as I waved mine in the air. Then it was asked how many people in the crowd were there because someone they loved was living with MS. The cheering and clapping was deafening.

It goes to show that even with a mysterious neurological disease such as MS, I am never alone in my daily battle. I am surrounded by so many people who love me and fight with me. They pick me up both literally and figuratively! And I have never felt that love more than on April 19, 2008 when I looked down at my family and friends and was surrounded by 22 pairs of beautiful, inspiring and powerful Red Shoes.

Music, Mummies and Martinis for MS!

If you live in the Atlanta area and don't have plans this Sunday night, feel free to join us for Music, Mummies and Martinis for MS!

The National MS Society is hosting a lovely cocktail event fundraiser at the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University. Enjoy a variety of musical performances as you stroll through the galleries, visiting the Egyptian exhibits currently on display (hence, the mummies). Your donation includes as many trips as you wish to the martini & wine bar plus heavy hors d'oeurves.

Chris, Mom, George and I have purchased our tickets and will be there with bells on! Well, no actually I will be there with red shoes on! Gotta keep up my Wearing Red Shoes image and all. ;-)

If you would like to join us, click on the link below and then click "Buy Tickets" and your name will be added to the guest list at the event. If you cannot make it, no problem...there will be many more fun and exciting events in our future....

http://gaa.nationalmssociety.org/site/Calendar?view=Detail&id=158590

Wearing Red Shoes

At a recent dinner party my dear friend Bob asked me,
"So why 'Wearing Red Shoes'? I mean, why is that your chosen blog name and now your Walk MS Team Name?"

And I thought, you know, I bet there are alot of people out there who don't know where Wearing Red Shoes comes from. Ok, maybe alot of you DO know, but it is a good story so here goes:

Once upon a time there was a little girl named Caroline.

When Little Caroline was 2 years old a movie came on television. Her parents debated whether or not this movie would be "appropriate" for a child her age. They worried certain parts might scare her. They did not know that Fate was stepping in that day bringing Little Caroline and her beloved 'The Wizard Of The Oz' together for the first time.

(And yes, she did refer to it with the extra 'The'...no one really knows why!)

She sat completely mezmerized until the credits began to roll and she asked to see it again. The asking continued for several days, until finally her parents went and bought Little Caroline her very own copy of 'The Wizard of the Oz'...on Betamax, no less!

For days...weeks...months, Little Caroline would watch her movie. Before long she could recite every line and sing every song. And then 3 year old Little Caroline decided her name would no longer suffice and she informed everyone she knew that her name was now Dorothy. But what mattered even more than the name were the Shoes. For YEARS to follow Little Caroline refused to wear any pair of shoes unless they were red. Red dress shoes, red sandals and flip flops, red sneakers...They all had to be RED.

Little Caroline dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween more times than anyone can count. She dressed up as Dorothy when it wasn't Halloween! When she was a little older her parents brought home a Cairn Terrier and they had of course named it Toto. Her favorite song of all time is still "Over the Rainbow". Her home is covered with Oz memorobilia. On her happiest days Oz has been there for her. On her darkest days it has been there too.
And when time or circumstance did not permit the watching of the actual movie, nothing made her feel closer to Oz than one of her pairs of red shoes.

My obsession with The Wizard Of Oz could fill the pages of blogs from here to eternity. The reasons I love its story, its myths and legends, its message and morals, its cast and music and so much more. But today we are talking about the shoes. There is something about a pair of red shoes that is truly magical.

Wearing Red Shoes makes you stand a little taller...

Wearing Red Shoes protects you from Wicked Witches...
Wearing Red Shoes can help you find your way home again...

Wearing Red Shoes just makes you feel like everything is going to be alright.

Less than 48 hours to go...

until Walk Day!
I am so excited and pumped about all the money team Wearing Red Shoes has raised and I cannot wait to celebrate with everyone on Saturday! As of today, we have raised over $12,800!!! Holy cow!
I can hardly even believe how wonderfully generous people are. It amazes me.
Sunday we hosted our Red Shoe Spraying party and everyone's sneakers look Awesome. (Yes, Van...yours still look the best!)

It is supposed to rain Saturday morning, but the walk is Rain Or Shine so we will just be Singin and Walkin In the Rain.
Hmmm I hope that red spray paint was waterproof...otherwise we might leave a red paint trail in our wake!

Oh and our dear friends Casey & Jeff Banta in NC started their own MS fundraising team for the walk up there!
Their team name is Red Shoes Too! How cool is that? We are going national!!!!

Alright, signing off for now, BUT tomorrow I will be telling the story of how the name "Wearing Red Shoes" came to be...
So tune in tomorrow!
XOXO

Don't take it personally

So remember the Spoon Theory? Of course you read it, right?
Well unfortunately spoons also represent mental energy and emotional energy...I have always considered myself very good at communication, at keeping up correspondence and returning phone calls and emails.
I used to be very good at it.

Nowadays I have a lot of trouble keeping up with it all. 
I forget that people have called me if I don't write it down.
My eyes don't work enough hours in the day for me to respond to all my emails. 
Or I have a series of bad days where I am in a lot of pain and the thought of carrying on a normal conversation with anyone seems nearly impossible.

So please don't take it personally if you don't hear from me promptly.
I know how behind I am on my emails...and my phone calls...and hanging out with friends.
But I do the best I can on any given day.
That is all any of us can do, right? :-)