Kategems...A Fine Balance

Kategems...A fine balance

0 notes

We walked in our first official March of Dimes walk yesterday with a team eight strong.  We were so lucky to have Ben be surrounded by so many people who have actively taken an interest in his life and well being and are able to watch him grow into such a strong and healthy little boy. We were running late (as always) due to a printer malfunction so my dad, Josh, Ben and I hoped into a cab to meet up with our team outside of Lincoln center.  Three of the teammates had beaten us there and we all were wondering if we were going to freeze or not while we waited in the shade.  It dawned on us to switch over to the sunny side of the street (literally) and everyone’s temperature quickly improved! The rest of the team arrived and we headed over to the Family Team tent to grab some coffee and bagels while we waited for the festivities to start.  One thing to note, for being an organization dedicated to premature babies, it was incredibly overwhelming.  Ben only has slight sensory issues and I was actually nervous he wasn’t going to be able to take waiting in the crowd.  I can only imagine how hard this had to be for kids with more pronounced sensory sensitivities.  At one point Ben put the hood of his sweatshirt up and laid his head down on my shoulder to just get away from the madness. After being promised a picture with Eli Manning (the celebrity chair) it became quite obvious that wasn’t going to happen.  It was just too crowded and crazy but we snapped pictures from about 10 feet away.   Later when he spoke to the crowd, we were all surprised how well he was at public speaking! Vanessa Minnillo also spoke although we all debated so long about who she actually was that we didn’t really hear what she had said.  For those wondering, she dates Nick Lachey and was an MTV host.  Yeah.  Exactly.   We actually saw both of them go into brunch while we waited for a table post walk.  We were underwhelmed. After all the speeches we were off.  Ben rode on shoulders and walked most of the way.  We had an incredible day for walking and everyone got a chance to catch up with each other as we walked across the park then down Lex to 23rd st and over to Madison Sq Park. We all too a rest then headed over to brunch at Almond which I highly recommend.  They sat us almost right away at a big round table where we all celebrated over Bloody Mary’s and biscuits! I would like to thank each and every team member who helped us almost double our initial goal!  We raised $5,765 dollars to help fight prematurity and at last count were the #9 fundraising team in the New York Area.    Rich and Shari are two of my best friends from my first job out of college in NYC and have stayed close ever since.  Christine works with me currently. Christina and I have been friends since our freshman year of college..  Brandon is one of Josh’s best friends from his first job out of grad school.  Beyond raising money and coming out to walk with us on this specific day in honor of Ben, these are also the same friends that have been there for us through our endless moves and job changes.  Each and every one of them have also proved to be tireless sounding boards on such exciting topics as Ben’s doctors, daycares, nannies, classes and also double as spur of the moment babysitters.  They have helped us every step of the way and are grateful for their friendship as well as the influence they will have on Ben’s life in years to come.

We walked in our first official March of Dimes walk yesterday with a team eight strong.  We were so lucky to have Ben be surrounded by so many people who have actively taken an interest in his life and well being and are able to watch him grow into such a strong and healthy little boy.

We were running late (as always) due to a printer malfunction so my dad, Josh, Ben and I hoped into a cab to meet up with our team outside of Lincoln center.  Three of the teammates had beaten us there and we all were wondering if we were going to freeze or not while we waited in the shade.  It dawned on us to switch over to the sunny side of the street (literally) and everyone’s temperature quickly improved!

The rest of the team arrived and we headed over to the Family Team tent to grab some coffee and bagels while we waited for the festivities to start.  One thing to note, for being an organization dedicated to premature babies, it was incredibly overwhelming.  Ben only has slight sensory issues and I was actually nervous he wasn’t going to be able to take waiting in the crowd.  I can only imagine how hard this had to be for kids with more pronounced sensory sensitivities.  At one point Ben put the hood of his sweatshirt up and laid his head down on my shoulder to just get away from the madness.

After being promised a picture with Eli Manning (the celebrity chair) it became quite obvious that wasn’t going to happen.  It was just too crowded and crazy but we snapped pictures from about 10 feet away.   Later when he spoke to the crowd, we were all surprised how well he was at public speaking!

Vanessa Minnillo also spoke although we all debated so long about who she actually was that we didn’t really hear what she had said.  For those wondering, she dates Nick Lachey and was an MTV host.  Yeah.  Exactly.   We actually saw both of them go into brunch while we waited for a table post walk.  We were underwhelmed.

After all the speeches we were off.  Ben rode on shoulders and walked most of the way.  We had an incredible day for walking and everyone got a chance to catch up with each other as we walked across the park then down Lex to 23rd st and over to Madison Sq Park.

We all too a rest then headed over to brunch at Almond which I highly recommend.  They sat us almost right away at a big round table where we all celebrated over Bloody Mary’s and biscuits!

I would like to thank each and every team member who helped us almost double our initial goal!  We raised $5,765 dollars to help fight prematurity and at last count were the #9 fundraising team in the New York Area.   

Rich and Shari are two of my best friends from my first job out of college in NYC and have stayed close ever since.  Christine works with me currently. Christina and I have been friends since our freshman year of college..  Brandon is one of Josh’s best friends from his first job out of grad school.  Beyond raising money and coming out to walk with us on this specific day in honor of Ben, these are also the same friends that have been there for us through our endless moves and job changes.  Each and every one of them have also proved to be tireless sounding boards on such exciting topics as Ben’s doctors, daycares, nannies, classes and also double as spur of the moment babysitters.  They have helped us every step of the way and are grateful for their friendship as well as the influence they will have on Ben’s life in years to come.