Kind Sirs

If I haven't learned anything in my 52 plus years of life, I've learned that given the opportunity, people often amaze me with their compassion and kindness. The news is filled with the bad things in life ... war, crime, death, anger, disaster ... there are way more stories reported by the media about the negative side of life than there are about the positive. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if a few news outlets decided to report only upbeat and uplifting stories for a week ... I bet it would change the world, I really bet it would. And should the media decide to do just that, I've got a story for them ... a totally awesome feel-good story about two men ... two men who've never met, but who both did something selfless and compassionate and amazing.

A couple of months ago, both of my doctors told me I needed to find something to look forward to, something that would inspire me, something to throw myself into, something that would help someone else. It's funny how God works through those two women sometimes ... those two doctors of mine ... how He uses them to speak to me, to encourage me, to help me get better. Within a few days of the doctors giving me that directive, I was perusing the American Diabetes Association website when the words "Step Out" jumped off the page at me. I clicked on the tab and was instantly intrigued with the stories of real people living with diabetes who were participating in diabetes awareness walks all across the country. I wonder ... I thought to myself ... I wonder if there's a Step Out walk in Kansas City." There was indeed a KC walk listed, and on Saturday morning, I will join hundreds of other people at a park near the Plaza area of KC for a 3-mile walk to raise awareness and funds for research to find a cure for diabetes.

Not long after I registered my team, Terrie's Trekkers, and established a fundraising goal, I set about trying to put together a team to walk with me. Though I knew that I was quite possibly setting myself up for a huge disappointment by hoping that people would want to join me on the walk in light of the small number of folks outside of work who have stayed in contact with me over the last year or so, I made up my mind that I was going to walk even if I had to walk alone. God is good all the time, however, and I count myself blessed that it looks like there will be six or so dear ones who are going to brave the cool temps and sacrifice their Saturday morning to get up early and come walk with me.

I decided early on that I wanted to get t-shirts made for our team, and I approached one of the art directors at work and asked if he might help me out with a simple logo of some sort. He didn't hesitate for even a second as he said, "I would love to create a logo for you, Terrie!" Within a few days, he gave me several options to choose from ... all of them were wonderful, and it was hard to choose which one I wanted. Once the logo was chosen, I approached our production manager and asked if she could give me the name of a t-shirt company that would print the shirts inexpensively. She gave me the email address for a man from California who does printing work for our company, and I emailed him asking if he could give me some prices. In my email, I shared with the gentleman what the shirts would be used for and when the event was taking place. Within minutes, I received an email from him telling me that his younger sister has type 1 diabetes ... that he understood how difficult living with diabetes is ... and that he wanted to donate the shirts. I received the shirts today ... and they are awesome.

See, here's the thing, friends, those  two men didn't have to create a logo or donate the t-shirts ... they had no reason really to shower such kindness upon me. But ... they ... did ... yep, they sure did. So here's to you, Micah and Steve ... thank you for being with me in spirit on my walk Saturday. Every single time I wear my "Terrie's Trekkers" shirt, I'll think of the two of you and your generous and compassionate hearts. Thanks, kind sirs ... thanks from the bottom of my heart ... you guys completely rock.