My weekend was a perfect mixture of lethargy (Saturday) and movement (Sunday). My book club is reading the new Jonathan Franzen book, Freedom. You may have heard of the book because it’s Oprah’s latest pick. His previous book, The Corrections, was also critically acclaimed but it’s been about a decade since that book came out so interest in this book is high. And, for good reason. I could barely drag myself off the couch until 2 p.m. on Saturday because I was so enthralled with the book. I did make a bit of a productive comeback in the afternoon, cleaning the house and doing laundry but I could have stayed parked on that couch all day. The book is that good.
We headed down to Seattle Saturday night to stay overnight for a very special Sunday – the Run of Hope to benefit Children’s Hospital Pediatric Brain Tumor Research. You may remember my friend Kyle? He lost his fight with his brain tumor last February but his Mama has been doing an incredible job raising money to benefit the hard-working researchers at Children’s Hospital who both cared for Kyle and are still researching childhood brain tumors. She’s still fund raising for Children’s (information here). Bramble Berry was a proud sponsor of the Run of Hope this year and we were thrilled to participate in the event as well.
One of Kyle’s strongest supporters during his fight was Husky Quarterback Jake Locker. Jake did so much behind the scenes, coming over to play video games with Kyle, helping with fund raising and publicizing Kyle’s plight to help defray medical expenses. And, he hasn’t quit helping. Despite getting home at 3 a.m. yesterday morning from the Husky’s incredible win over the LA Trojans, he showed up bright and early to sign autographs, t-shirts and babies (yes, he signed babies; it was the cutest thing). An additional cool factor to his presence was that ESPN is covering his every move, in anticipation of the NFL draft. There was speculation that had he gone pro last year, Jake would have been the No. 1 draft so ESPN has a camera following him everywhere in preparation for this year’s draft.
Overall, the day was a fantastic experience for Team OOO-UM-GOW-AH and the more than 2000 participants in the Run of Hope. Of course, we all wish that there was no reason for the Run of Hope but it was fun to meet, walk and remember Kyle while helping the team at Children’s that helped him so much.
