The Princess Guide: She NEEDS to Walk

Morning Ya'll,

It's a crazy day around here. The Ragweed is in full force outside, and I've got three girls upstairs playing with American Girl dolls. I've got to get some work done, but first I wanted to share something with you.

Everyone who walks in the 3-Day has a story. For many of us, it really sucks to have a story -- it's not a happy one. It's not about conquering the beast -- it's a story about taking life one day at a time and doing whatever we can to make a difference.

Even if you don't think you have a story, you have a story. Maybe your story is that you've been blessed -- but you want to make a difference before time has a chance to change that.

Last week, I was blessed to do a training walk with Cyndi. Cyndi lives here in Cypress, and I really had no idea what her story was. I know that may sound crazy, but with this many people on a team, so spread out, my time to learn many of those stories is on the walk. You can cover a lot of ground -- and a lot of history -- in 60 miles.

So Cyndi and I walked, and I learned her story, and it touched my heart. You see, Cyndi is a single mom and while our stories aren't the same in that aspect, we have a lot in common.

Cyndi's Mom had breast cancer. And to honor her Mom's victory over the beast, Cyndi signed up to walk the Atlanta 3-Day in 2004 or 2005. (I'm not clear which.) Cyndi had raised all the money required to walk, and was all set to go.

Then her Mom's cancer came back --in her brain. Cyndi never had the chance to walk in that first 3-Day -- and hasn't had the chance yet to walk in her Mom's memory. As a collective group -- all four of us -- we need to help make sure Cyndi gets to walk. As a single Mom, Cyndi's challenges with this walk -- both the fundraising and logistics -- are more than most of us can imagine. BUT.... We can help make those challenges a non-issue. Right??

That's Cyndi on the far left -- this was taken on Saturday's mongo training walk. The girls walked 18 miles!

Like I said, everyone on Team Tiara has a story -- and over the next 24 (24!) days, I'll be sharing some of those with you. Most of those will be stories of first-year walkers -- those are the ones that really touch my heart.

You see, first year walkers ROCK. They're the ones that have absolutely no idea what they've gotten themselves into. They look at pictures and video and listen to the veteran walkers talk, and wonder how all that mashes together. They don't have any idea how the completion of that walk will feel -- or the celebration that comes with it. They've simply been told by a sister, friend or stranger that they must do this. They must walk.

So here's the scoop..... Last night, I suggested we all work to help 19 walkers get to the $1300 mark -- so they'd all be just $1000 short of the required amount to walk. Let's keep on that. Once we get the whole team over $1300, we'll set another goal.

BUT.... If Cyndi's story has touched your heart, and you want to keep helping her march on up to that required $2300, feel free to visit her personal fundraising page.

Thanks for all you do!

- d.