Being Purplicious

A few weekends ago a bunch of us met in Waxaw, NC, at our friends', RB and BP's house. Both RB and BP are high school friends, both are East coast born and bred, and they just recently moved back "home" from Las Vegas a little over a month ago. THANK HEAVENS! Anyway, it was kind of a little "back together again" weekend and it was a get together for a definite purpose weekend.

A couple of months ago, Beth sent us all an invitation to join the Purple Stride 5K in Charlotte, NC, the weekend of Sept. 12. The Purple Stride 5K is a walk or run in support of finding a cure for Pancreatic Cancer, a very very deadly disease. There doesn't seem to be any coming back once diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It's more than horrible. Here is a link to look up Purple Stride. We did raise almost $500. I say *we*, but I had nothing to do with it. Two other friends got those donations for the cause. I merely walked. :)

You see, we got together and wanted to do this because we have a common link, a common reason for wanting to walk and be a supporter of this cause. In January 2016, it will be 4 years since the death of our dear sweet friend, Fibi, or Fibs as I called her. Fibi was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of 49; she died at age 50. From the time she was diagnosed until her passing it was only a few short months. I wrote a post about Fibs here. She was a very bright light in this old dark world and warm sunshine to those who loved her. We miss her so. This walk was in her honor and memory.

There were 8 of us in attendance for the Purple Weekend... 5 of us have been friends since high school (age 13 and up)--Rick, Beth, Fletcher, Burbs and me...one attendee was the husband (Glenn) of one of our friends who couldn't be with us(Joyce) and one was the husband (RC) of Fletcher and the other was the sister of Fibi; her name is Fatin. We had the best time together! We were all so thankful Fatin could drive to NC from VA to be with us and to walk in The Walk for her sister. We all wore purple shirts with Fibi's name on the back. We spent time laughing and reminiscing about Fibi and telling Fibi stories. We indulged in some wonderfully prepared meals by our fabulous hostess. We helped our friend, Glenn, set up his warehouse for the auction he was to host on Saturday night. He was so grateful and so moved by our willingness to help him that he got teary eyed. What are friends for if not to help one another? We had an impromptu birthday party for BP. Rick got her this sweet beautiful bicycle. Boy, was she surprised! It was awesome! We talked and walked and danced and took tons of pictures and laughed until our sides hurt and we simply relaxed. Relaxed. It was heaven and we knew Fibi was looking down at us from heaven smiling and so happy that we were all together and that Fatin was with us too.

Here are some memories of our wonderful weekend...
The gang taking a pre-walk photo 
Love these girls!
We each wrote messages to Fibi/for Fibi and posted them to a giant wall
The race is about to start... 

Hello, Charlotte, NC :)
Our finishing time
We took a Snap right before we crossed the finish line.
it was hot and we were somewhat tired
Our special monogrammed shirts... Thanks to BP for this! 
Surprise!!! Happy Birthday, BP! 
One can dream!


And some Sunday morning Snaps before everyone had to depart for home...
Love waking up on a Sunday morning, lounging in pajamas till noon, no make up, no hair brushing and then taking pictures! It's all good!
Why is Burbs holding that monstrous plant? I don't even remember where it came from! haha
Memories are made from stuff just like THIS! <3
We are planning to walk again next year. It will be the 5 year Anniversary of #Purple Stride. We all hope to be back in Charlotte, spending the weekend together remembering our Fibs. We are hoping more of our folks will be able to join us. It was a fantastic weekend with some of my most favorite people in the world.

Seeing Purple for a long time to come,
D~

P.S. I have GOT to get this posted because tomorrow afternoon I am leaving W-S, driving to Raleigh to pick up my Girl and we are flying NORTH for our next big adventure! Yep, I am actually going north of the Mason-Dixon! Crazy I know, but we are going to see my beautiful niece whom we haven't seen in 3 years. She and her family live in Milwaukee. She has two babies (3 yrs. and a newborn)and we have never seen them. So Katelyn and I are going to give some serious lovin' to all 3 of those children! We will also be visiting with two of my brothers in Chicago and doing some sightseeing while in the Windy City. We are so excited! I'm sure I will be writing about our trip so stay tuned.

And to this horrible cancer and all the other horrible cancers, here's a sign for *you*...

FIGHT ON!!

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