Emotional

I know it’s been several days since I’ve posted. I truly apologize for that. Friday was an extremely busy day running around getting last minute items for our event. A group of us met Friday and started setting up. The barn started to look amazing! Needless to say I crashed hard when my head hit the pillow!! Slept in somewhat Saturday morning. Did my morning therapy and then took a nice long nap!

The rest of the group met down at the winery at noon and finished setting up. Although I should have, I did not partake in the “final” setup. I was truly amazed at how well the barn turned out. It looked AMAZING!!!!! I can’t thank you guys enough!!

After I woke up from my nap my wonderful so supportive friend Emily came over. Emily and I have been friends since high school, and we still remain very close to this day. Although she currently does not live in Oregon, she resides in New Hampshire with her husband and children. Without blinking an eye, she was on the first flight out here to support me at our event! We relaxed had a glass of wine chit chatted for a while. Another one of my friends Anna so graciously donated her time and supplies to do mine and Emily’s hair for the event. We all three shared some good laughs! I do have to say Saturday morning and afternoon flew by! After we had our hair done we ever so quickly changed and ran out the door! As we bee bopped down the road to the winery I did some therapy in the back seat of my car. I will admit it is so nice to be able to do therapy in my car! Thank you WSK for making that happen! 🙂

As we arrived at the winery people were already showing up and it was only four o’clock! As I proceeded to enter the barn a flood of emotions came over me. At first I was extremely sad and scared. Scared because I finally realized I’m at the end stage of my life, I DO need a double lung transplant to save it. But then I got extremely happy. Happy that look how far I’ve come. Back in May my family was told I would be leaving the hospital but it wasn’t through the front doors. I proved them wrong. It was an extremely long and tough road but I can say I DID IT! Look at me now! I maybe dragging an oxygen tank around, and life might be way different now, but I AM still here! I was also extremely happy to see some amazing people come together and show their support for little old me. I could have went around the entire room and said something special about every single person who occupied a seat. From doctors, nurses, respiratory therapist, elementary school teachers, teacher I subbed for, family members, people I used to drag race with and so many others came together to support my family and I through this journey. The love in the room was overwhelming! I’ve never felt so much love and support before! I shed a few tears and then I told myself “no more crying this is a joyous event!” Well that didn’t last very long, until Robert asked me to say a few words at the beginning of our event. I lost it! But I eventually pulled it back together! Ha ha.

As I looked around the room, people seemed to be enjoying themselves. The silent auction tables were packed with people! The wines that Robert provided were amazing! I tried to make it around to each and everyone of you and say “thank you” for your support! It truly meant a lot! I am so blessed to have so many wonderful people in my life. Dan Hern is one of the best auctioneers I have ever seen! He knew how to get the crowd into it. He made people laugh and just have a good time! As the night progressed on I actually read the speech I had repaired. I didn’t look up very much, I knew if I did I would have lost it again. But I made it! 🙂

I could not believe how quickly the evening went! Before I knew it, it was over! :(. There are so many people I want to thank for making this event happen. If it wasn’t for you this event wouldn’t have happened. So many gracious people donated their time and energy to our event! Because of these people and you our event brought in close to $75,000! Far exceeded my goal! That is pretty awesome! I hope to have photos of the event posted to our gallery soon! But in the mean time Erin Weber has posted some great photos on facebook! I encourage you to check them out!

I was completely exhausted after last night. Needless to say I crash hard again Saturday night. Then it was up and at it early this morning. Kerry and I traveled to Seattle today. I have my three month check up on Tuesday. We came up a few days before just to escape relax and catch up on some sleep! We arrived safely at our hotel this evening. Now we are both ready to hit the hay! My therapy machine just turned off for the evening. I’m off to brush my teeth and crawl into bed! Hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did!

Remember “just breathe”

Until next time………

~Jen~