Cincinnati Walks for Kids

We attended our third Cincinnati Walks for Kids today in memory of our sweet Charlie. This event got me out of the house and into the world so to speak the first September after we lost Charlie in July.  For me it was the only tangible way I could thank all the people that loved him so big in the hospital. 

Today we all arrived in our "Charlie's Angels" t-shirts and once we checked in and picked up our t-shirts we started towards the rolling start.  The music was playing and everyone seemed in good spirits.  For whatever reason I just can't get my mind in a good place when I am near Children's Hospital.  It is one of the places that I can always expect a grief attack.  Today as we started walking I looked at my dad and said, "I hate this day."  And if not for the positivity and the joy that seems to permeate from the people surrounding me on this day I think I would walk the entire loop through the zoo with big alligator tears rolling down my cheeks.  Instead I had my family with me today as we put one foot in front of the other for all the kids.  Our "Charlie's Angels" group has dwindled a bit over the course of the last three years but the place in my heart will never shrink.  The place I have in my heart for my boy is bigger than ever.     

We will always walk for Charlie and the research they are continuing to do for us to have answers, but now we also know that the children in the hospital and the families that still have hope for tomorrow need our support even more.  They need us to walk and raise awareness for all the awful things they deal with on a daily basis.  I pray often for the family and/or families that have also lived in our room in the PICU.  I hope today made a difference for someone inside those walls tonight.