running for laura

i somehow managed to squeeze in a third race for the month of january.  woohoo!

this one was special, though.  the proceeds of this race were going directly to family that a bunch of us hold near and dear to our heart - that of our friend laura.  she left behind an adoring husband and two adorable little girls who are still struggling to find their way after losing her to lung disease.  the race was being held at vanguard university, which is where they met.

lilcee and i carpooled down there, and found ourselves all checked in and ready a good hour before the start of the run.  the course map looked pretty easy - two loops around and then back into the campus.

as we hung out and peoplewatched, we got to say hello to johnny, laura's husband.  it was nice to see him and chat with him a little bit.

 laura loved pink and lululemon - because who doesn't? - and so our group had all decided to wear as much of it as we could scrounge up.  here's a pre-race group shot:

it was so much fun to see all that pink, see all the kids and come together in our friend's honor.  some of us were running, some were walking, and all were excited for the day.

the run was an easy one.  the volunteers stationed all along the course were super enthusiastic and fun, and there were lots of inspirational and encouraging messages done in sidewalk chalk.

this was my favorite note, though.  in-n-out had so generously donated lunch for all participants, and it was great motivation to push through and get to that finish line.

i managed to get a shot with the school mascot before heading off to find my friends (and lunch).

the post-race group photo.

yay for in-n-out!

johnny later posted that there were over 200 participants in the run, which was awesome.  it was a beautiful day to honor laura, and i know she would've loved it all.

death sucks ass

so, yeah.  we're all gonna die one day.  it's totally true, and we all know it, but we all try not to think about it - because that just sucks.  doesn't matter if you're young or old, death just plain sucks ass.  my thoughts are all jumbled and unorganized, so i hope this post makes some sort of sense.

this weekend, i attended the memorial service for my friend laura.  her grieving husband, ever faithful and completely devoted to his family, put out the word last week that her life would be celebrated throughout the day at several different gatherings and opened it up to anyone who wanted to come and say a last goodbye to his wife.  i was grateful that the service was in the morning, because the bean's dance recital was that same day, but later in the afternoon.

the big milestones in life, whether happy or sad, always bring people closer together.  and while it was under difficult and sorrowful circumstances, i have to admit that it was really nice to see some of my friends who i hadn't seen in a really long time.  we talk online all the time - twitter, facebook, email, etc.  but it was wonderful to be in each other's presence, to smile, hug, laugh, cry.  we did all of those things as we remembered our sweet friend.

the service itself was just...amazing.  every seat was taken, every wall was lined with more people who had come to pay their respects to laura, johnny and their families.  there were two full rows of knotties/nesties present, and we hugged a lot and shared tissues and smiled through our tears.  the photo montages that documented laura's life in stages - childhood, college, marriage, motherhood, even the final weeks in the hospital - were beautifully done.  i think every one of us summoned all of our collective strength and sent it towards johnny, whose positivity and humor shone through his words as he spoke of his wife.  i don't know how he did that.  it had to be incredibly difficult, and he did a wonderful job of sharing their lives with us as we laughed and cried with him.

on the breathing for laura facebook page, he'd shared that after attending a friend's funeral, she made the comment that she was fully expecting him to get her a pink casket.  and as a last surprise, he and one of his friends spent three long nights working diligently to grant her that last final wish.  it was amazing and beautiful, and you could see the love that went into every inch of that casket.  i didn't take any pictures (i later heard that he'd encouraged people to do just that), but there are some on the facebook page.

i left the church after exchanging more hugs with my friends.  i've gotta say, my friends are fantastic huggers.  and i felt closer to them after spending the morning sharing our grief and sorrow over losing one of the best of us.  

here's one more reminder - be an organ donor.  it truly can make a difference.

every breath you take

a couple of weeks ago, i shared the story of my friend laura, my knottie friend who was fighting a lung disease and awaiting an organ donor for a heart and double lung transplant.

not long after that post, a donor did indeed come through for her.  the doctors did what they do, deeming the organs suitable for her body, and performed the long transplant surgery.  as they were finishing it all and getting her closed up, the heart...stopped.  they were able to revive her, but that heart just couldn't do what it needed to do.

laura passed away yesterday.

with the help of social media, there were hundreds - even thousands - of people who were praying for laura and her family.  her story reached so many folks who hoped and prayed for her to be able to pull through and return to her loving husband and beautiful daughters.  and as the sad news spread, there was an outpouring of love and support from people who knew her, knew him, or simply knew OF them.  we were all so hopeful and optimistic that for a lot of us, the possibility of her not surviving wasn't even a consideration.  it's just so, so heartbreaking.

her husband johnny is the strongest, most positive and faithful husband in the world.  and by that, i literally mean full of faith - as he continued to update the facebook page he'd started for laura on a daily basis, he would infuse those posts with cheerfulness as he delivered whatever news there was to share.  and he would end each post with a heartfelt, fervent prayer for his wife to be healed and come home to her family.  and even as he broke the awful news yesterday, his faith was strong and unfailing.  while he has every reason to scream and shout and rage at the world, he chooses not to join the dark side - which, let's face it, would probably be easier at this point.  and of course he's got to be incredibly upset and sorrowful.  but as you read his post, he expresses deep feelings of gratitude, love, protectiveness over their children, and always, always faith.

while there's sure to be an abundance of offers to help johnny and their daughters, who are just 2 and 4, my friend yahpee said it best:  yes, they will need assistance in the days to come.  lots of it.  and if you're so inclined, the donation page that johnny's sister set up for them is still active and open for donations in any amount.  but we also need to make sure that we don't forget them as time passes and our lives move on.  let's continue to remember and support and pray and love this family 2, 3, 6, 9, 12 months from now - and beyond.

and as we all mourn the loss of our friend laura, i'd like to just toss out a reminder that organ donation is so incredibly important.  and signing up to become a donor is super easy and takes just a few minutes, if you haven't already done so.  you can do it online, even.  it's an incredibly bittersweet notion - for someone to live, another must die.  but if you can save up to 8 people by signing up to be a donor...well, i just can't see why not.

thank you, laura, for your kindness, friendship and humor.  we love and miss you tremendously, and we'll do the best we can to help your family as they face life without you in it.  i know you'll be watching over them, too.

can you handle more cookies?

the may cookie extravaganza continues!

so when i was asked for beer mug cookies to celebrate a 40th birthday, i was all like, "SWEET! i have the perfect cutter!"

and then i checked my stash and found that yeah, i had a beer mug cutter.  the mini version.  poop.

but you know i'm crafty.  and i have so many stinking cutters that i knew there had to be some way that i could macgyver some shit together to make it work.  here's what i came up with:

when i cut the dough out and put it all together, it was all like:

can you see it?  can you?  just close your eyes and...oh, never mind.  i'll just show you how it turned out.

not bad, right?  i was pretty proud of myself for that one.  sometimes my level of geniusness amazes even me.  HAHAHAHAHA, i couldn't even type that with a straight face.

here's the rest of those party favors:

my one and only mother's day cookie request was going to be used for a gender reveal for a new baby's grandmas-to-be.  i had a lot of fun with these:

this last set comes with a very serious backstory.  you probably already know that a lot of the ladies that i count as my best friends entered my life via the message boards on the knot, back when we were all planning for our weddings.  we all developed really close friendships both on and offline.  believe it or not, there's still one friend i've not yet had the chance to hang out with in person, but she's one of my favorites.

a year ago, she started feeling some very weird symptoms - trouble breathing, that kind of thing.  she ended up being diagnosed with a lung disease, which progressed fairly rapidly and landed her in the hospital a month ago.  she's now in dire need of a new set of lungs, plus a heart.  unfortunately, the ones that have become available in the last month have not been a good match for her, and so she waits in the hospital, separated from her two sweet babies and attended to round-the-clock by medical staff.  her family, closest friends and her incredibly upbeat and positive husband are with her at all times, and the rest of us are spread out all across the country rallying for her and sending as much love and prayers as we can.  because there are so many who love and care for this family, they've set up a facebook page where they post updates as they happen to keep everyone up to date.

one of our friends came up with the idea to post photos on social media this weekend in her honor, to show her even more love and support.  we decided to ask those who wanted to participate to incorporate a heart somewhere in the photo and use the hashtag #breathingforlaura.  here was my contribution:

if you can, will you send laura and her family some love, prayers, positive vibes, whatever you've got?  it can't hurt, and time is of the essence at this point.

we love you, laura!