Apparently it has been well over a month since my last post. Who knew it was already March!! I swear it was just 2012. Since my last post, I have made HUGE progress on the running front. I am up to 8 miles!! (And technically I ran closer to 9 this past weekend, but spent a mile of it rescuing a lost puppy so it doesn't totally count). The running group has been AMAZING. If you're thinking of joining a group, you absolutely should. I would not be as far as I am without them. So onto the good stuff. . . .
In the next week or two I'm going to be sending out some info to my friends and family about the LZ Michigan scholarship, my run, and why I'm doing what I'm doing. This is something I wanted to do a while ago, but I've been finding it hard to put into words exactly why this is so important to me. Obviously the running part has a lot to do with my health but why am I so passionate about this scholarship? I've decided it's not the scholarship itself I'm passionate about, it's what it represents. Yes, I believe everyone deserves a shot at an education and to be able to give a veteran or their family member a chance at that is a great thing. Like I've said before, if all it takes is this run to raise enough money to give that to one of our Veterans, then my time, sweat, and energy is absolutely worth it. My passion for the scholarship though, really goes back to the LZ Michigan event and the effect it had on myself, my family, and countless others that day. It was something I wish every Veteran, friend and family member could have experienced. It was supposed to be a one day "Welcome Home", but was so much more than that. It brought about a whole new understanding for us non-veterans, and it brought some healing to those who fought in Vietnam. Unless you were a part of it, no one can truly understand what those men and women went through, but a lot of us have seen the affects it had on those who came back. . . .
You can read all you want about PTSD and the effects of war on an individual but you will not get it until you live it. It's something that weaves it's way into every day life but is so hard to understand. It affects the person dealing with it and their friends and family. It's not something you can take a magic pill and make disappear. It's something you have to accept and learn to live and deal with. My family learned to live and deal with it like so many others.
My family taught me that no matter what, you don't give up on each other. For every bad day, there is always a good one, and as easy as it would be to walk away, you don't. Life isn't easy and it isn't fair. But it is good and it is a gift, and it's so much better to go through with the ones you love. As a kid it's really hard to comprehend all of life's events, but as an adult, I'm grateful for some of the things we went through. I wouldn't be who I am today without my past, and as a family, we wouldn't be where we are. Life isn't meant to be easy. If it were, what would be the point? You can sit and feel sorry for yourself or you can learn and grow and move on. I think the LZ Michigan event helped all of us to move on. Maybe I'm overestimating the effect it had on everyone else, but for me, it changed my life. The conversations I had, and the moments of emotion I witnessed are in my memory forever.
So that is why I'm running. Maybe not the most eloquent words and lacking a lot of detail, but it's from the heart. Some people will get it, some won't and that is OK. We all have a story and this is just a small part of mine.
