WHAT a weekend! Holy smokes am I exhausted! Ok….so yesterday was a swimming day off, but definitely not what I would consider a rest day!
My friend Jeff is the General Manager of the Osprey Baseball team in Missoula and he let me come and set up a table at the game Saturday night, which was also Tough enough to Wear Pink night. Sooooooooo….that’s where I was Saturday night! I had quite a few people come up to my table and ask more about what I was doing. There were folks that remembered seeing me on the news last year for the Flathead swim. A lot of kids came up (the table next to mine had candy), and I observed that as parents read my fliers, they would hug their kids closer. I think by now most people are very aware of how non-discriminating cancer is and it makes most people realize how lucky they are to be healthy and that their kids are healthy. Several people that stopped by the table know Karmyn (of last year’s 50K for Karmyn). But my absolute favorite visitor of the night was a little boy who was about 8 years old. He and his friends were frequenting the candy dish at the table next door and finally after about the 20th time of him shyly looking over at my table he says to me, in an all business tone, “so what’s this all about.” I showed him a picture of Katelyn and I told him that she was sick and that I was doing a fundraiser to help raise money to help her get better. I told him about the lake I was swimming (which he didn’t quite get the concept of how that would help KK…but he was only 8). From there the game of 20 questions began, how cold is the lake, how deep is the lake, are there lots of fish in the lake, etc. The whole time he was talking to me he was playing with a quarter in his hands. He left and came back one last time and asked “how long is the English Channel” I told him it was a little over 20 miles. He then says to me, “You will be swimming a long ways…so here is a donation,” and he handed me his quarter, wished me luck and went back to the baseball game. I wasn’t supposed to be collecting donations at the game (just directing people how they could donate), but I couldn’t turn away this kiddos quarter.
It was a good night.
This morning while adorning my new “rockstar” suit that is much more suitable for tan lines while outdoor swimming, I headed to Splash Montana and got in a respectable 6,000 meters (about 6500 yards). I ran into Simone-one of my favorite former swimmers at the YMCA! Simone was also on my crew for last year’s swim. Simone gave me some great suggestions for additional sponsorship.
After swimming, I had lunch with a friend, caught up a bit and THEN, the highlight of my weekend, I had ice cream with Karmyn, her mom Tiff and her little brother. Karmyn wasn’t as shy as she has been in the past with me and after ice cream we went over to the little splash park. Tiff reports that Karmyn is doing well and is set to be done with her treatment in January. She also has a birthday coming up, which I am hoping to be able to make it to. The family intends to come and watch my swim for Katelyn-which I am pretty excited about. Katelyn and Karmyn are friends (which I didn’t find out until after deciding to swim this lake for Katelyn).
I hit the road about 5 and made pretty good time back to Kalispell. I can’t remember a trip home where I have been as tired, but I made it. I picked Dixie up and Katie had a salad waiting for me to take home too….10 points for Katie. So I am heading to bed right….about….now!
Good night guys!
~Em
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