One month ago...

One month ago...April 2, 2016.  I know where we were.  I know what we were wearing. Not because something tragic happened that remains imprinted on our memory.  Quite the contrary.  One month ago, hundreds and hundreds of people gathered in honor of Kevin.

Too many times the phrase "there are no words" have been a part of our life these past five months. For that particular day, there are too many words. Unbelievable, amazing, humbling, awesome, and blessed are just a few.  That's why I have struggled to write this post.  How can I possibly find the right words to describe that experience and show our gratitude?  I can't and, unfortunately, when I become overwhelmed, I often get stuck and do nothing.

I know Kevin has been disappointed that I haven't acknowledged his benefit in one of our posts.  He's dropped hints.  Quoted a few lines.  I was still stuck.

Isn't it funny how things come into your life when you need them?  Maybe it's a song or something you read or a story someone tells that helps you make that connection and get "unstuck". Back to that in a bit...

As most of you know, I wasn't crazy about the idea of a benefit (that actually sounds pretty mild...I was pretty adamant and spelled out my feelings in an earlier post).  Kev said, because he knew this wasn't going away, "Let's just call this a party."  Okay, I like parties.  Let's have a party.

Boy, did these people throw a party!  We have NO idea how many people were there, but we know it was A LOT. Club 16 said they served food to 416 people and we know that many people didn't stay long enough to eat or didn't get in line to eat before they ran out of food. Crazy! Where did all of these people come from?  I can honestly say there were a lot of people I didn't know.  The people from the trucking industry, along with family and friends, came out in full force.

In some ways, I wish I would have shadowed Kevin for the event to meet some of these people who are a part of his life. But, with that many people, the divide and conquer approach seemed more practical. Unfortunately, with so many people, we didn't catch everyone and didn't get to have the quality conversations we would have liked.  I've made this plea before and I will make it again.  If you want to visit with Kevin, don't wait.  Give us a call and let's get together while we still can.

The kids and I were quite surprised on how well Kevin held up for the day.  The night before he was grumpy (which he later admitted was actually nerves about the benefit) and Saturday morning he seemed weak.  We honestly didn't see how he would make it through the entire event.  Eleven plus hours later, the majority of which he had been standing, Kevin had done it.  The next morning, as the family was walking to church, we were talking about our concerns about him making it all day.  I commented, "I think all of the love carried you through."  Kevin replied, as he trudged painfully, "I sure could use some of that love to carry me now." :)

A few people took me by surprise.  One was Fud Marking.  He bought our trailer from us when we lived in Wabasha.  We've been gone from Wabasha for almost 20 years now and I think I've only seen Fud once in that 20 years so I certainly didn't expect to see him there.  Of course, no surprise, I couldn't remember his name.

And one group brought tears to my eyes.  Three of Keaton's friends from work surprised Keaton by driving down from the Cities. What hit me at the moment I saw them was that now I knew Keaton had a support group to help him through this.  They would be there for him...and moms need to know that (yep, I'm crying again).

So...how does one even begin to thank ALL of the people who made this special day possible for Kevin?  I'm afraid to mention names for fear of leaving people out but here goes.  Thank you--Shane and Emily Nottestad, John and Kate Schaitel, Mark and Lori Privet, Ed and Joni Vorbeck, Todd Hemsath, and Corey Wilson just to name a few.  We cannot even imagine all of the time, money and effort you put into making this day happen.  There are not enough ways to say thank you for creating this memory for our family.

My heart also swells when I think about how the families of these organizers worked so hard too.  I can still see Ed and Joni's kids manning a table, Ben and Andy Schaitel selling chances, and the Nottestad boys all over the place helping anyone who needed it. There were so many hands who made this possible. Amazing.

I tried to stay clear of the basket/prize/auction area so I don't really know who or what was contributed.  Please know that we are thankful for any contribution you made.  I did venture over to admire the beautiful table that Kevin's nephew Andrew made to be auctioned off. The picture does not do the river design justice. We know this project became a family affair and we appreciate the love behind it.

Back to being "unstuck"...(yes, that was 9 paragraphs ago!)...Tom Thibodeau came in to speak one night after work.  He asked, "How many of you have bought a ticket for a cancer benefit?" I didn't look around but I could hear people lifting their arms.  He went on, "Does just the family benefit? The whole community benefits." I think people had been trying to tell me that but it hadn't been sinking in.  Tom had my attention.  I was grabbing some paper to take notes.  He said the word benefit comes from two Latin words meaning "to do good together".   A light bulb went on.  Yes!  Because of everyone's extreme generosity, WE (all of us) could "do good together".  I'm not exactly certain what that "good" is right now, but we'll know it when the time is right.

Tom shared another story of a young soldier who had lost his arm and had a prosthetic leg.  He was struggling to maneuver his child's stroller with just one hand.  His young wife put his arm around him and helped him guide the stroller.  She said, "Let's push together. It's just too hard pushing alone."

Tonight we are thankful for all of you who are helping us push through this together.  We know we couldn't do it alone.