Paying it Forward

You know, I have so much to catch up on, but I am putting a zigzag in my chronological order to post something so exciting and, frankly, quite humbling.

I have been a parent leader in the Fragile X Association of Utah for about 4 or 5 years now and as of about 1 1/2 years ago I have been the sole leader of the Association. I have had helpers along the way and as of the last 6 months have had a couple of co-leaders.

But, even with help, this has been a daunting task.

I get overwhelmed by leadership and only ended up in this position by default and just couldn't bear to just drop it.

Well a few years ago I wanted to start some kind of fundraiser but nothing was coming to fruition. Then and idea finally came to me after seeing some of the amazing pumpkin carving my brother, Aaron could do. Why not have some kind of fundraiser for the Association where people could bring their pumpkins or just come to view some amazing ones. So with the help of my co-leader Jennifer and her husband Chad we were able to hatch the idea into an actual plan and now it is coming to light on October 19 and 20th of this year.

I have been so overwhelmed with 3 children with FXS and all the challenges that come with that and then heading up this entire thing. I have had help but, even with help, it still is stressful having to decide who does what task and what tasks need to be done and when and where and who...

I had come to the decision that I was going to give up after this fundraiser was complete.

I had decided that I couldn't do this anymore and that is was just too much for me and my family to continue to take on.

Then I got a call from Marc's cousin, Heather.

She told me, in effect, that her son had somehow through connections from an internship had gotten us the opportunity to do an interview to promote our fundraiser, The Parade of Pumpkins.

Awesome!

I was so excited because I had been wanting to get to that task of getting our event on the news or the radio or something and here was my answer!

So today we cancelled all our plans (which wasn't too hard because it was raining all day) and got our house cleaned and the kids ready and ourselves ready.

My mom and Aaron came to show off their pumpkins for the interview so that people would know some of what they might see.

And away we went with the interview. It went really well even despite the children making noise and running in front of the camera randomly. It made me, and Steve Hertzke (the interviewer) chuckle quite a few times. He asked me a lot of questions about how the diagnosis of Fragile X affected us as parents, how it affected our family and why we were working to get this even going.

About 20 minutes into the interview he pulled Marc and I together in front of the camera and asked us if we ever had a quiet moment at home with the kids. We paused and looked at each other as Baby's rocking horse was squeaking in the background, Sister was Squealing and flipping over the couch and Brother was tapping away on the table next to us, and smiled as we responded, "Um, not really..."

Then the surprise came.

Steve said something about how KUTV has a Pay it Forward spotlight and that we were part of that. Then, this innocent bystander, who the whole time, I thought was some random producer or intern or something, stepped forward, gave us $500 cash in behalf of Mountain America Credit Union and told us that it is to go toward our cause that we have been working so hard for.

I was shocked and amazed! I teared up and hugged the Mountain America Credit Union guy, twice. Not just once, twice!

Marc's cousin, Heather had not just called in to get us an interview but, she, her sister and her mom had all been entering us in to be spotlighted for their Pay it Forward piece!

I felt so humbled that they felt we had made a difference.

It was an amazing feeling!

I cannot express enough thank you's to everyone who was involved in this.

I am also excited because it has given me the kickstart to keep going and not to give up after the event. That, in and of itself, is quite an accomplishment.

If any of you want to see the interview and spotlights on Aaron's pumpkins and other things then tune in to KUTV on Wednesday, October 17th at 10pm, Thursday, October 18th at 7am or Thursday, October 18th at 7pm on their sister station KMYU!! I am so excited to see how it goes!

And thanks again, Heather, Jadine and Brigette. We love you!

My brother Aaron's "sample" pumpkin he did specifically for the interview.
Thanks Aaron!

My mom's witch pumpkin and bench that actually go together at the auction with another shot of Aaron's.
Thanks mom!

And if you want to donate to the cause but can't attend please visit our fundraising site.

And if you want to see one of my favorite "Pay it Forward" spots click here.