A Thousand Times, Thank You

Today seems like the most appropriate opportunity to express our undying gratitude to everyone who contributed to our Team CHOP fundraiser for galactosemia research. Thanks to all of you, we exceeded our $1,000 goal! I cannot think of a better way to honor Oliver’s first birthday than by raising this money.

I have a secret to share with all of you: I am terrible at asking for help in my personal life. Even if I am truly in need of rescuing, I tend to feel burdensome and vulnerable (two things I have a really difficult time with). Most of the time, I would rather just carry the burden of whatever I am facing by myself, or by leaning on John. I think it stems from a fear of rejection or a fear of appearing weak to others (I suppose that’s for me and my therapist to sort out though).

By way of example, John and I had decided to board our dogs at their favorite kennel starting the day before my due date last year and had expected to pick them up some time the following week, in hopes that Oliver would make his debut and we would have a little time to get settled in with our newest addition before adding two wild beasts to the mix. A week tops, we thought. But Ollie came a couple of days later than expected and then we found ourselves in Philadelphia so we needed to extend their stay. We knew they wouldn’t mind since they consider it a home-away-from-home and more akin to doggy paradise than a kennel. But I knew they would be running low on food very soon and we didn’t know when we’d be back in town to drop some off. I agonized over what to do and finally, despite my feelings on the matter, we asked our very dear, sweet friends, Erin and Ethan*, if they would mind dropping some by. I am pretty certain my text to Erin contained repetitions of the phrases “I’m so sorry to bother you” and “I promise I’ll reimburse you for the food as soon as I can” and “If you can’t, I totally understand.” Did I mention how bad I am at asking for help?

Anyway, this is just my long-winded way of telling you all that it was not and is not easy for John and I to ask for your help in our cause but we are so very glad we did. We still cannot believe how amazingly generous and thoughtful each of you has been! I do not know if I could say thank you enough times to adequately cover just how thankful we are, but I promise I’ll spend my lifetime trying to!

Most of all, we are just so grateful to have ALL of you in our lives. To know that Oliver has a tribe of such amazing people in his corner is more than we could ever ask for. It warms our hearts to no end. You are all kind, loving, wonderful people! Thank you, thank you, thank you! A thousand times, thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for giving the Lucy family that more much to be thankful for this year!

*Just a little note about our friends, Erin and Ethan: they are two of the most giving, kind and loving people we could ask to have in our lives. A blessing, truly. And I feel 100 percent confident in saying our hesitation in asking for help had nothing to do with us thinking they would be unwilling to help us out  and everything to do with our own neuroses 🙂