I celebrated my birthday with Tom Glavine!

Better yet I celebrated with some of the most amazing moms I have ever met! I wonder if someone walked in off the street and didn't know what Quiet Heroes was all about if they could figure it out just by seeing these moms. They carry them selves proud. They are strong women. They have helped their children fight, they have fought for their children. They are my heroes!

First off thanks so much for the birthday wishes, phone calls and emails. This morning after much debate Abe and I headed out for the Quiet Heroes luncheon. Friday his seizures were really bad. Not violent just very frequent. So often that they had given us until 10:00 pm to get them slowed down or we would have to admit him for IV meds. Thankfully they slowed down.

OK so back to this morning. My mom came over and picked us up so we could use her car to drive to Atlanta and leave the van for Mike and the girls. On the way to take her home I went to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee. Mom treated me. Good thing I didn't want Chickfila cause the line was so long. Got mom home and off we go. Abe is crying so I am praying that once we hit the express way he settles down. Sure enough all the way there he sleeps.

I get there and check in. Two of the volunteers checking us in volunteer to hold Abe if I need them to. The tension of bringing him releases and I know it's ok. I start looking for a place to feed him. The first restroom doesn't have a sitting area. I asked a volunteer. She directs me to a restroom that has one. She said if that's not ok please let me know and I will get you into one of the girls rooms upstairs. Super nice!!!

As I walk through the lobby I am greeted with a smile and a beautiful glass of fruit punch filled with fruit. YUM! I thankfully take it and head to the restroom. On the way there DD finds me. For those of you that have been there done that, going through it ya'll know what it means to have the arms of another cancer mom wrapped around you. Blessings!!! So I go in and feed Abe. Just as I am finishing my angel girls come in to get Abe. My friend Audra brought her two daughters to come stay with Abe while I go to the luncheon. They are all smiles and so excited.

I go put my HUGE gift bag down where we are sitting. I forgot to take a picture of that. It's BEAUTIFUL! Have ya'll looked in it yet? OH MY!!! I am scared to list what's in there cause I am sure to leave something out. One of the coolest things is an autographed cookbook from Jimmy Buffet's sister. LOVE It!!! LOVE my CURE charm. Of course The Lion in the House book is a wonderful keepsake. I have many people I know will want to read that. LOVE my t-shirt too. See I told you I would forget stuff. Amazing Grace shower gel. LOVE it!!! Pound cake and cookies still waiting for me to eat them. Still much more!!!

I get all my stuff down, turn around and see Jane Hennessy. I think it was Tina that introduced us a few years back. Thanks so much Tina! It was so great to see Jane and visit with her a little. Connie was there too. I wasn't ready, wasn't prepared to see her. She is Tyler's mom. Remember I posted that story about him a while back. Brave mom. Tyler will not be forgotten. My heart breaks for her!

I had not taken two steps and I run into Margaret and Anna. Neither one of them knew about Abe so I shared. Amazing. Words cannot tell you how they held me up as I shared with them. Another reason The Lighthouse is so very important to us. We met these two wonderful moms there.

OK shake all that off and hit the auction. Step into the hall and run into Cathy. I was so wanted to visit with her and someone came up and took her away. Another time soon Cathy! Hug Tony for me!!!

Man I so wish I had money to get some fun stuff for Mike and Kale. They had so many wonderful things. Golf for 4 at the Country Club of the South. Next year I will be better prepared. We could have gotten 3 others to split that with us and won that one. I did win one of the auctions. I can't tell you what it is though cause it's for someones Christmas present and they will read this. That is if I can keep it that long without giving it to them. I got to see Sharon, our family partner from The Lighthouse. I love to see how God placed each one of these friends in my path at just the right time. Sharon I hope you got to see Abe.

I ran into Nachelle, Tonjila, Julie, Jenny and Trisha. Some of our wonderful Camp Sunshine friends.It was so wonderful to see them all. After taking some pictures it's time to go sit down. Audra is trying to get a picture of Tom Glavine. We decide to just go up there. Audra takes a picture of me with Tom. Then Tom takes a picture with my camera of Audra and I with his wife Chris. Let me tell you these are two of the nicest and very giving people. Well we go sit back down and realize we forgot to see Kristin. We wanted a picture with her and forgot. We were star struck. We get back up and get Kristin to get in a picture with some of the other moms. Then I run into Carrie, Cathy, & Kim. All these women have played such a huge part in our lives.

I go back and sit down. I start talking to Amanda. She lost her son Erica in March. He was 3 years old. All this is so fresh on her heart. I do not see how she did it but I am so glad she was there. On the other side of me is Erica. She lost her son Michael 2 years ago. He was a teenager. It's so precious sit and listen to her share her love for her son. I was blessed to get to sit with these two ladies. You know it's so easy for me to get caught up with what's going on with us. This was a great reminder that I am not here to dwell on me but to help others however I can. It doesn't matter if that's through prayer, listening or maybe just reaching out and touching them. I am thankful for this reminder. I also got to spend some time visiting with Eleanor at our table.

This next part is some what a blur. Kristin got up and she always blows me away with her eloquent words and just the love that flows. She is truly an amazing woman. She introduces Chris who also is an amazing woman. Her love and desire to fight cancer is contagious. Jill Becker speaks next and shares her heart with us. Next is Julia Reichert. She did the film Lion in the House. If you haven't seen it before and would like to know the journey of childhood cancer you should watch it. It was said that this is a sorority we wouldn't choose to join. That's so true but without these other moms this journey would be so much longer and harder. These are my quiet heroes. Thanks so much ya'll!!!

It was around this time that I told my friend Audra that I hate her for making me come. My heart meant it. I had already used every tissue I had along with some she and Margaret had given me. Even though I was hurting again it was part of the healing. It was just that day, Michala, the cancer, all these quiet heroes, all these people that had given of their time, it was also all that we had been through the past few days with Abe. It was so many thoughts and feelings about so much all bottle up inside. I apologized to Audra for telling her I hate her cause I really don't.

Before we left I adopted one of Catie's elves for Abe www.HOSTanELF.com and got a picture of him with his new elf and Catie's mom Jenny. As I was leaving Audra gave me the arrangement of orchids she won from our table. They are beautiful!!!

Abe and I made the trip back to mom's to pick her up. When we turn onto our street I cracked up. In our yard was a sky dancer, dancing and waving Happy Birthday from www.affordablemoonwalk.com. It was too cute! When I walked in the house they said surprise. The house was decorated with blue streamers everywhere. It was a celebration fit for a queen. Just when I thought things were winding down Aunt Carol came with tons of food she had cooked for us. It was delicious. She made me Paula Deen's roast, potatoes, carrots and onion recipe. YUM!!! Every kind of fresh vegetable you could imagine. It was so good.

I truly had a blessed day. I started to read through this and take some out to make it shorter but I really wanted to cherish each one of these memories. Since I am now a day older I was scared I might forget.

PS. no one will understand the butter picture except Cyndi and Amanda.