Dawn's Benefit

It sounds so cliche but seriously, it is difficult to find the words to share with you guys what the benefit was like on Friday. It was absolutely amazing.

To start the evening, Lisa, Eric, and I met up with some of Dawn's friends at a bar in the city to take the bus to the benefit (which was held in Merrionette Park, south of the city). Everyone was so kind and wonderful and Scott, Dawn's boyfriend, got us all hooked up with drinks and tickets, etc. for the bus ride (he is incredible). Dawn met us at the bar and she looks fantastic. She was in her wheelchair and did not have any of her prosthetics on but it was still Dawn--if that makes any sense. Her hair is in a cute, short bob now and her smile filled the whole room. My heart was so full when I finally got to hug her.

When we arrived at the benefit site, we walked in and literally were stopped in our tracks. This place is HUGE--huge, huge, huge--and it was PACKED. Packed. Our best guess is that there were easily over 2,000 people there (yes, that's the correct number of zeroes). People filled THREE huge rooms and were packed in shoulder to shoulder. There were huge screens up which ran a slide show of Dawn (so cute) and many guest speakers spoke during the night. Dawn's mom brought us all to tears and then Diego Gutierrez (a midfielder for the Chicago Fire) spoke on behalf of the campaign "Nothing But Nets" which works to save lives by preventing malaria in children in Africa.

There was a HUGE silent auction and I actually came home with a SIGNED "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" DVD and SCREENPLAY by Nia Vardalos. Eric got a signed Cal Ripken Picture which he was thrilled about! There were so many items to bid on and I am so anxious to hear how much money was raised as there were a lot of people bidding a lot of money on behalf of Dawn. There were also raffles taking place all the time and while we didn't win anything there, it didn't even matter... we just wanted to give money to Dawn in any way that we could.

Dawn had a "reception line" all night long with everyone desperate to hug her, love her, and talk to her. I got to talk to her about our race to which she replied, "You're all crazy!" and we laughed about mini-brushes, chicken legs, and she said that she'll be out to Colorado to visit soon--to which I said, "No! We're going back to Napa!" I got a, "jibe ho!" from her and it felt so good to see that spark that attracted me to her in the first place...

The place was so crowded that it was difficult to move around but everyone was so friendly and the mood was so positive and we met sooo many amazing people that we left feeling so good that Dawn's support system is this huge and is so loving. It was incredible.

At the end of the night, we took the bus back to the bar and I got a chance to sit and laugh with Dawn and her girlfriends for a little while and it was so great because it was so... normal. We told funny stories and laughed and Eric gave her a hard time about being responsible for my "jibe-ho" addiction upon returning from Napa with her. : ) Dawn wanted Sarah to know that she was wearing her necklace and sends so much love to all of you--particularly to Chele and Sarah who she misses terribly...

It was an incredible night filled with hope and inspiration and I am so glad that we were able to go. I promised Dawn that we'd call her when we crossed the finish line and I know that we will ALL feel Dawn with us as we get ready for the big day...
I didn't take too many pictures for a couple of reasons but they did say that there will be new photos posted on the blog soon.

(They sold out of t-shirts immediately--my plan was to buy one for all of you so shoot!--so I'm anxious to get our race t-shirts!)