Marching for Maddie in Tampa

Jumping right out of bed at 5:45am with verve and vigor is usually not my thing. But I did this morning. Blurry eyed but fired up, I went straight to my closet and pulled out my purple. Today was the Tampa March for Babies walk. I had been looking forward to this for a long time. Go wake up the kids, we’ve got some walking to do.

We arrived early and made our way through the already gathering crowd. As we passed the registration desk, I saw two women sitting nearby with T-shirts that simply read “Friends of Maddie“. Ok. Here we are.

Our group gathered, bloggers chatted, kids played with freebie bubbles, babies nursed and the sun began to peek up over the buildings. Anissa Mayhew, our fearless team leader, and I chatted. How was Maddie’s funeral? How is Heather? How is she handling all of this new found (er, not sure what else to call it but) fame? Is she finding privacy to grieve? But our kids distracted us often, climbing up onto the wall, jumping off tree limbs, giggling and carrying on.

I was taken by a pic I snapped of Anissa’s Peyton and my five year old. Both had survived time in children’s hospitals. Peyton may be the more decorated veteran of the two – but both were there today: climbing, laughing, alive and wonderful.

And while watching the mothers around us, many had taped signs to their strollers for children who were not there but tucked carefully away in varying NICUs, fighting. Of course, I thought back to my own child’s limited time in the NICU. The hissing and lights, the various beeping counting off seconds, minutes and hours, the days that melted into one another. I remember the mothers in my NICU rocking their babies with cupped hands. Their baby’s chests raising up for air, their mothers whispering encouragement, their futures entirely unknown. Their hours entirely unknown. I remember. My heart knows. And this was a world I only shared for 11 days. Nothing, comparatively.

So there we were. My family: healthy and ready to go. For me, today was as much about celebrating life as it was remembering life lost. Time to breathe air and walk forward for all of those children who never could or – with help from the March of Dimes and fantastic NICU staffs – finally did.

Before the walk began, we took a quick group picture. Here we are. Bloggers and friends alike. All there in Maddie’s honor. In a mere 17 months, Maddie has reached thousands of people and has made an enormous impact on the March of Dimes. I wonder if I could ever do half of what she’s done in my entire lifetime.

And so we got underway. The sun warmed up the day, the palm trees swayed, the traffic was stopped for us and we mosied along, chatting, connecting and enjoying.

Before we knew it, the walk was over. We arrived back at the University of Tampa to James Brown’s “I Feel Good”, free meals from the Olive Garden, Popsicles from Blue Bonnet, a bounce house and people everywhere. A positive, good moment. There is life even after death. Parents march on. Hope continues. The sun shines down on all of it. What a privilege to participate in this moment.

And with that, we got into the car and went to find breakfast. After all, it was still only the beginning of our day.

A Big Unintentionally Forgotten P.S.:

I was a little caught up in the emotion of that day while writing this post that I forgot to actually mention and link up to the fabulous bloggers I walked with. (I know… doh!) I was thrilled to share this day with:

• Mommy Melee

• Dashoff

• Diary of a Crazed Mommy

• The Caffeinatrix

• Laurin and Kelley Talk

• Hope 4 Peyton

It was also wonderful to meet the many friends of Maddie and blogger husbands too!