Congrats, Lisa!! Lisa

Congratulations Aime! What a fantastic feeling to do something like this, isns't it? Holly

Hi Tiff, Congratulations on your 1 year surgi-versary! The cards are beautiful, aren't they? Hope your son is feeling better, don't forget to take care of yourself, too. Moms tend to forget to do that! Hugs, Holly

Yesterday, I joined hundreds of other folks in the ADA's first ever Step Up to Fight Diabetes here in Philadelphia, a ten mile route that included climbing 1000 steps! And I did it! Every last mile! Every last step! And I am on top of the world! On top of everything else, my very generous supporters helped me to raise $3370 to fight diabetes and to help those afflicted with this awful disease. I wore a shirt that featured a photo of my big brother and me as children, with the words: For You, John. There were a number of challenges along the way, the first coming just before the half way mark, when we climbed City Hall. I'm told that was 165 steps up...it just seemed to go on and on...before climbing, I set my pack down, looked at it, took a breath, and made myself ready...then...I climbed it! They had volunteers at each floor, cheering us on and telling us to not look up, which was nice. Once at the top, I looked down, then I started laughing! I went across the Love Park (the statue from the postage stamp?), where they had lunch set up, and sat for the first time, letting a fountain spray me for about ten minutes...then on again...more walking...more stairs! Just after the 2/3 mark, we climbed the art museum stairs (a la Rocky, though, I don't think anyone ran them two at a time by that point in the day!). For the first time in all my years of visiting that museum, I actually did the Rocky raised fist pose for a picture at the top of the stairs The last rest station was a few minutes from there and I spent about 15 minutes there, sitting, then stretching, catching up with fellow walkers. As someone pointed out to me later, this was as far as I'd gone in my practice walks...and I think my body knew that even if my mind hadn't made the connection. I took something for sciatic pain, which had begun setting in back at City Hall. And then...and then...I pushed passed that pain! And I finished that walk! Just before the arena, we went down into a subway, then climbed back up again...and there was the finish...volunteers waving us on...what a feeling! Inside, the last steps down into the arena, the first we had climbed up at the start, lined with volunteers, some I'd seen earlier in the day...I couldn't sit right away, had to move around a little, get some Gatorade. Finally, I sat on the bottom step...and the full impact of what I'd done hit me...how I had first visualized finishing such a walk nearly a year ago, in a shirt with my brother's name on it...how at that time, I couldn't have done it but I belived that eventually, I could...and would...my brother's spirit was with me throughout that walk...as was my Goddess...one year and 140 pounds ago, this was just a distant dream...and finally, I began to cry. This experience has changed me on a level whose impact I have not yet processed. I do know this: I can do ANYTHING! LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!! Lisa

Happy Surgiversary! I hope that your son is feeling better soon. Take care fo yourself too, Tara