The Night Before

Its here.  The night before what has become one of the most meaningful three days of my year.  The out-of-office reply is set at the office, Tim and Tyler have beds waiting for them, and I picked up this year's running skirt from Lululemon today. 

This time tomorrow we'll be wrapping up our first night at the Monument Avenue 10k expo.  The Banner of Hope will already be crowded with love notes and encouragement and faith.  We will have put faces to many of the names we have seen sending in donations - we will know their stories more intimately and understand more fully why they joined the fight.

This time Friday we will have run out of "in honor of" and "in memory of" and "survivor" bibs - a bittersweet reality of the expo each year.  The supplies for the Massey Mile will be packed up and ready for their early morning delivery.  We will be settling in to count change and dollars for two hours - watching the thermometer move closer to the half-million dollar mark.

This time Saturday, we will have chalked and unchalked the Massey Mile.  We will have met other survivors along the 6.2 mile course.  We will have danced alongside other supporters to the Killing Daylights - fighting through the happy exhaustion of the weekend.

This time Sunday, Tim will be back in DC.  I suspect Tyler and I will be watching a movie, rehashing the sights of the Massey Mile.  Looking through pictures of the days we just lived.  Holding hearts fuller than they are just in this moment. 

But as much as I know each of these things to be true, I also know each year brings the unexpected.  I am excited to see what these days ahead have in store.