Do you remember that Proclaimers song? - it was on the soundtrack to Benny & Joon, but it was a hit in its own right.  "I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more just to be the man who'd walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door."  Is it stuck in your head now?  Good, now I'm not alone.

I am bummed today.  Actually, the truth is, I was bummed, but now I'm not.  Why you ask?  Well, even if you didn't, I'm going to tell you.  When we brought Abigail home from the hospital in September, I promised myself that as a family we were going to walk in the March of Dimes WalkAmerica.  I truly believe that the work that March of Dimes does benefited Abbie, and to some extent, me.  Their studies on the genetic aspect of preeclampsia may help my girls in the future, since there seems to be a distinct possibility that preeclampsia can be genetic.  And their grants to NICUs around the country have helped preemie babies get the best possible start.  Of course, I want to do what I can to support them so that every baby born early will have as good an outcome as Abigail did. 

So, we were all set to walk as family on April 28th.  I was getting ready to send out an email to friends and co-workers to ask them to sign up as walkers or donors.  I was ready to order Abbie's NICU survivor onesie and I've been walking a lot the past few weeks and was feeling like I'd really be ready for the 5-mile walk.  But, when I went on line today, they have changed to date of the walk to April 7th, the Saturday before Easter, the weekend that we're going to be visiting Bronwyn, Craig, and the girls.  At first, I was crushed.   But, then I looked farther down the page of walksites and realized that there is a walk in Ft. Walton Beach on November 10th.   And I realized that November 10th in Ft. Walton is even better than April 28th here, because, as usual I have a crazy plan!

About October of last year, I decided that I wanted to walk 500 miles before Abigail's first birthday.  Why?  I don't really know except that it sounded good, and maybe that song from above was making me crazy.   Of course, I didn't walk any in October or November, and I think I walked maybe 2 miles in December and January, and then none in February (you know, the great brain tumor scare of 2007 was in February).  To my credit, I've done really well in March, increasing my miles from almost nothing in 2007 to over 37 miles.  Which leaves me 463 to walk - in six months.  Ummm, it's doable but probably not very easy.  So where am I going with this?  Well, here's what I'm going to do.  Instead of walking 500 miles by September, I'm going to walk 500 miles by the WalkAmerica walk on November 10th (an average of less than 2 miles per day) and for every mile that I walk, up to that 500 miles, I'm going to put $1.00 in our savings account and then, in Abbie's name, I'm going to write a check for all those miles, and give it to March Of Dimes on the day of the walk.  (If that's okay with my husband - Sweetie, is that okay with you - I could probably try and give up my Diet Dr. Pepper habit and we wouldn't even notice the money leaving our account    (I guess I'll find out if he actually reads my blog from this, won't I?)  Cool, huh?  Well, now I've written it down and published it on the internet, so now I'm accountable.

If anyone cares to join us in Ft. Walton on November 10th, well, contrary to what I normally do, I'm giving you lots of advanced notice!  And, in all probability, Abigail will be walking at least part of the walk, instead of just strolling along the whole way like the princess that she is if we walked next month.

So, now you see why Ft. Walton is a good thing.  And why I can't get that song out of my head.

Because I've spent this whole blog talking basically about myself, with a touch of Abbie and a smidgen of Steve, I have to leave you with a never-before-seen picture of my big girl - that child who has me completely wrapped around her finger, the girl who can turn the world on with her smile (Oh Great, now I have the theme song to the Mary Tyler Moore show running in my head!)   "Who can turn the world on with her smile?  It's you girl and you should know it, with each glance and every little movement you show it."