Make A Wish

We meet Dale Earnhart Jr. in Charlotte North Carolina at the Nascar race. That is Riley's wish. He is a very private man so no video or public photos. Tonight we received the itinerary. My family came and Tom's sister. She took photos of the event. Riley received some match box cars of the Nascar models of some of the drivers. Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhart, Edwards, Johnson, Biffle. He also received a book on Nascar's history, full of old pictures and photographs and historic information. Riley loved it.





What I loved was that my family and one of my dear friends were there to join our festivities when Make A Wish presented Riley with his wish. Not a big group, but I read an article that said any more than Ten people and the hostess can't get enough quality time to talk to her guests. The people that came were there in the beginning of our adventures last February. They supported us through our trials. Visits to the hospital when Riley was incarcerated. Sharing of their own stories, so we didn't feel so alone. The information and love that was poured out to Riley and us gave us the strength to carry on under the burden of stress.





I didn't have a big party, just family. My girl friend is taking our dog for a long play date, which was one reason why she was invited. The dog wouldn't walk out to her car without me. He knew he was going away with out us. I am having the neighbors watch our cat and house again. They did a great job this summer. The cats did not take revenge on being abandoned , which was an indicator my neighbors did a fantastic job caring for them. Usually, they tear up the house and leave presents everywhere. When I bribe them with fresh cans of cat food every day provided by my neighbor the damage doesn't occur.





I just didn't have it in me to do a big event, even though I owe some other very dear people a huge amount of love and gratitude for their cleaning my house, remodeling Riley's room into a sterile clean environment, providing food to the family when we were commuting to and from the hospital, and for just being there with their support and love. It is a pay it forward kind of thing. I can only hope that I can return that favor to someone else in the future. Even though I would not wish the circumstances that would warrant it on anyone.





We are all so excited. Tom was almost giddy. Someone commented on whether this was Riley's wish or his father's. We had talked about taking the boys to a Nascar race but probably would not have gotten around to it. There are so many other things to do. We just did our big DC trip. It would have been a while before we did another big trip. I had already bought our plane tickets for New York and DC before Riley got sick. Or we probably would never have concidered still going.





It was well worth doing as I know this trip will be. We will be making Make A Wish our new charity for a long time to thank them for this family time. We will have a blast.