Pay it 40ward in Action: Mile 28

Another obligation-free day today at Casa de Giessler. When have we had two of these in a row? I can't even remember. We managed to be up at the 'new' 7AM and stay busy all day long though. Scott's theater kids will be doing their public performance of their festival show this week. He stayed busy with planning and managing that for a good chunk of the morning. I faced the fact that today was pretty much my last day to clean bathrooms and prepare the guest room for my mom's arrival next weekend. If she's going to be my Florence Nightingale for a couple of weeks, the least I can do is bring her in with clean sheets, towels, bathroom and guestroom. I realized today that the only way to get her here for an extended visit is to pop out a baby or have major surgery. I've got to get more creative with my invitations!

Getting to the real point of this blog post... another teammate has come through big-time with their Pay it 40-ward challenge. My dear, lifelong family friend, Susan, is one of my former babysitters. I was in her wedding when I was 8. Her mom and my mom are best friends. Along with a greenhouse/nursery to owns with her husband, she is a high school theater director is Honeoye Falls, NY. If you ever think to yourself, "Wow, [so-and-so] is a really upbeat, delightful person", I hate to tell you this, but Susie has them beat. She has 4 super-cool kids, a great husband named Tom (my first 'real job' boss out of college and one of the Toms that made Scott & I decide that, yeah, a guy named Tom is a good guy pretty much always... therefore naming our eldest "Tom") and one adorable baby granddaughter. And although she is not a runner herself, she chose her Pay it 40-ward activity in honor of my goal. Here's her story:

If your family seems to lack brains, wit, musical talent or a general awesomeness... it's probably because these guys have it.

Phoebe - So I have finally done my Pay it 40-ward and thought you could use some good news!
Because you so love running, I recruited 40 friends (editor's note: FORTY FRIENDS!?!!? WOWZA!!) to also give some money. We were able to sponsor two girls to participate in the Girls on the Run Program at our school.

 

Girls on the Run is a program for 3rd-6th grade girls. It is a 10 week commitment and they train to run a 5K at the end. The girls pay a fee to participate. We were able to pay for 2 girls and get them some running shoes!

The whole idea of the program is to help develop the whole child and to help young girls with self-esteem, body awareness and the idea that they "CAN" do it! Hope you are doing well and you like

 

how I spent your forty-forward! Love you! Susie

I know how long it took me to find 40 people to join my effort. (Hint: a LONG time!) This wasn't even her rodeo and Susie managed to gather that many for Girls on the Run. What an effort and what a thoughtful organization to reap the benefits. I am so happy and humbled and grateful.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Susie! I'm running out of adjectives (and I took the SAT when they still had all the obscure words!) so I'll just say: this is phenomenal!