MelissaForman.com

It was a ton of fun meeting you and I am really excited for next year. Special thanks to my friend Greg “Ponch” Blesius of Creative marketing http://www.creativepromo.net/ for the awesome hats! Also to cute little Sarah Chiren for the amazing pink ribbon key chains and Kelly for the awesome photos. Not to mention Sandy Day for the Fuze and Kristen for the outstanding donuts!! It was a day we will never forget and I’m so proud of our entire team!! If you didn’t get to race- no worries, we will save a place for you next year!! You can’t imagine the feeling you get knowing you are making a difference in the lives of those facing breast cancer.

It was like a weekend of great deeds. We also attended the Special Olympics Inspirational Gala at the Drake Hotel. It’s hard not to be moved by these incredible athletes and their character and grace. One of the things I LOVE the most about the Special Olympics is their motto. It’s something that has moved and inspired me from the first moment I heard it. This is what it is…… “Please let me win, but if I cannot win, at least let me be brave in my attempt”. I LIVE by this every day. You know, we all try our best, but in the end if it doesn’t work out (whether it’s a relationship, work, etc.) as long as we are BRAVE in our attempt- that’s all that matters.

Also, got stopped on the street to be a part of something really really cool. It’s called Off the Street Club
http://www.offthestreetclub.org/ You can still donate to it. You LITERALLY donate and pick a child off the street for $10. This is the child I picked. Not only is he adorable, but I LOVED that he had a kitty on his shirt!!

Dying to know if you went to Kiddieland for the last time before it closed? I cried a bit reading an article in the Chicago Tribune over the weekend. One of the reporters talked about a day there with his daughter. It started to rain so they took cover under the giant carousel. His daughter gleefully jumped in the rain and started to say “dance with me in the rain daddy!”. He did. So did 3 other daddy/ daughter couples. Then he heard his daughter utter the words that millions of moms and dads had probably heard before him. “I love Kiddieland!”. Scott cried when he read it. I cried too. A part of my childhood (and of my 2 little girls) will forever live at First and North.