I’m Walking for Hope. Consider donating.
Today while I was closing our pool, I struck up a conversation with the neighbor across the street. I learned that she would be walking the full 4 miles kilometers in the Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer – DC. She was going to walk with 3 other women, including another neighbor, but all three had to bail for either a death in the family or other events. When she said the registration was only $45 and it all went towards cancer research, I decided to walk with her!
I figure since Stacie is out of town on a “Girl Weekend”, I didn’t have anything better to do on my Sunday morning (we’re going to church in the evening). So what better way to spend it than donating to a worthy cause, getting good exercise and most importantly, being there for my neighbor. So, if you would like to donate to this event, here’s the donation link. I’m not part of any team and I won’t see your donations as I’ll be registering “at the door”, so don’t feel guilted into donating 🙂
As a bit of background, these neighbors have been through a lot. They’re in their 50s and this is their first home together, and have been in it for 30 years. Well, they have to sell it soon…
A couple years ago, it all started. The wife was driving to PA with a friend. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a hospital. She lost an eye and had numerous bone fractures and breaks all over her body. I never prodded too much to ask what happened, but it didn’t scare her away from driving.
And then last year, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a masectomy and she’s all better now.
Then earlier this year, the husband lost his job at the local Ford dealership because they closed up shop. Luckily he got a job at another dealership (he works in the Parts department), but it’s at least 30 miles away from their home. But all through this, they both kept their good spirits and never complained about their misfortune around us.
Since they’re getting closer to retirement and they spend quite a bit of their weekend time near his new job anyway, they finally decided to put their house on the market. They’re listing it to “sell quickly”, which means they’re underpricing it by a lot. With regards to land and square footage, their home is the most like ours. They’re putting it on the market for $40,000 less than we paid for ours 🙁 Granted, they don’t have a pool and our house is updated quite a bit more, but that $40,000 is going to hurt us bad if we have to sell within the next few years ourselves. But I’m not angry at them because it’s what they need to do. Who knows, maybe there will be a bidding war!
Update: I completed the 4km with my neighbor in 33 minutes. It was a beautiful day and there were hundreds of fellow walkers (and a few dozen runners). I got a bag of goodies, and a gold medal with pink ribbon when I finished. And before the race, I even got a picture taken with Alison Starling (the local ABC 7 News anchor). It was a little more difficult to get to Leon Harris and Melanie Hastings since they were in the interior seating, but I will say Leon is a big dude (not fat-big, but tall and muscular big).