Luau time? I think so!!!

First of all I owe you guys an apology. It has been several days sine I’ve last posted a blog. Emily and her husband Jason arrived from New Hampshire on Friday, and they stayed at our house. We all had a great time just hanging out catching up and enjoying each other’s company! Saturday Kerry and I had a graduation party to go to. My cousin Shon graduated this past weekend from Roseburg High School. So great to be able to celebrate with my family! Later on Saturday night an entire team of people met down at Pyrenees Winery. I can’t begin to thank each and everyone of you for your help!

I have attended Polamalu luau’s in the past but I have never seen the actual preparation it takes to get the pigs ready and in the ground. There is a lot of preparation from digging the hole, starting the fire letting it burn down to coals, adding rocks to the fire (that’s what actually cooks the pig), making sure the coals and rocks are all level, stuffing the pigs with all kinds of vegetables and seasonings, to wrapping the pig up in tin foil followed by chicken wire. Once the pigs are in the ground, they cover the entire pigs and hole in tin foil. As the tin foil is going down people come in with wet newspaper and literally throwing the wet newspaper at the pig to trap the heat in. Once the pigs and hole is covered with newspaper, typically Brandon likes to place banana leafs on top of the pig, but sine they are hard to come by here in Oregon, he resorts to wet gunny sacks. Then followed by a dry gunny sack, then they place a dry larger cloth tarp over the entire hole. Finally the dirt is placed back on top of the hole. They started the fire around 9:00 pm, and it was a little after midnight when the pigs were placed in the ground and covered up. I had no idea so much preparation and hard work went into burring the pigs! I learned so much from Brandon and everyone that was involved, it was truly an amazing site to see! I was honored to be part of it!

After a super late night and way too early of a morning it was finally Sunday!!! The luau day! The day everyone has been waiting for! I do not think i’ve had that much fun well since I had my DLT (Double Lung Transplant)! What an amazing weekend! Even though the it was a toasty one, we still had a great time! So many people came to make this celebration a success! I tried my hardest to get around and see everyone, if I missed you I truly apologize! So many people turned out to celebrate with us, it was amazing!!

The entire day was a memorable moment! But I will say there were three parts that will stick with me forever. The first one was having Jay ad Sheryl Starr surprise me at our luau. Eric (one of the awesome workers at Pyrenees Winery) called me up on stage, and announced I had two people here who wanted to surprise me. Jay and Sheryl walked around the corner from the tasting room and I just lost it! Even though we have to keep three feet between us (CF rule) it was so hard to hold back and not give him a huge hug! Talk about seeing two amazing people, who fought all the way to the end and continues to fight and he looks SO good! I cannot thank you guys enough for coming out! I don’t think there was a dry eye at the winery! Rick Wilkens and his family was able to attend the luau. Ricky is also a fellow CF fighter. So, it was pretty cool to have three CF patients at the same event! So cool!

The second moment was Ken Wood, Dan Bartram and Page Cellars had designed a custom wine bottle for me. I was left speechless! It is beyond beautiful! It had my actual lip print on it! How crazy is that? Everyone did an amazing job! Ken and Jennifer asked as people purchase a bottle of wine if I would sign it. I was honored! Although I have to say trying to figure out what to say was extremely hard. Ken had a magnum made for his collection and asked if I would sign it as well. I will admit that was probably the hardest thing to do. There are only so many ways you can thank two people. I am beyond grateful for everything they have done for me. I love you Ken and Jennifer Wood more than you’ll ever know!

Finally the third moment hit me today when I was sitting on my couch reflecting back on yesterday. There were serval times I was either called up on stage or someone needed something, so I would take off sprinting. I was actually RUNNING! Not dragging an oxygen tank, was no where near short of breath, and felt completely amazing! I honestly do not remember the last time I have ran and felt that great. Honestly as I sat here and thought about it I started crying. Wow I can run and breath just like a “normal” person! What an incredible feeling! All I can say is how cool is that?

I could keep going on about how awesome Sunday was. There were so many more memorable moments, and so many people to thank. I tried my best to thank everyone, I know I forgot a few and I apologize for that. But if it wasn’t for each and everyone of you this journey wouldn’t have been possible and for that I cannot say Thank You enough! I hope everyone had a fabulous time at the luau, and I also hope everyone got to see the amazing photo’s Erin Weber took! She did a beautiful job!

This girl is off to bed, way past my bedtime! Hope everyone had a great weekend and a good Monday! Thank you everyone! Truly!!!!

Until next time……….

~Jen~
“Just Breathe”