Always something new

Part 1 - Still learning from Dave and having fun. 

Recently the boys school, Vernon, held the 3rd Annual fund-raiser auction It is so exciting to see how much it has grown in such a short time. When Walker started pre-K at Vernon 7 years ago (yes, 7) the school was struggling to restart a PTA. Now we were attending a fund-raising dinner of over 200 people. The first two dinners had focused on establishing an arts and music program at the school. This year technology was added to the mix. Dave was well known after the previous auctions for getting the bidding started. With technology added he would have been even more excited.
 
With this in mind Todd and I hatched a scheme. First he asked family members to help start a fund in Dave's name. One part of the evening included an opportunity to hold up a bid card for a straight donation. This started with the family support. Then Todd told why we were doing the challenge. Several people had said something to both Todd and Cindy about missing Dave at this years auction so we knew a challenge would be well received. The challenge was if 12 people donated at a given level I would donate a certain amount for each boy. (Dave had done a similar challenge for the boys jogathon) This generated a fabulous response. 25 people donated at that level!
 At the silent auction earlier in the evening I had also followed Dave's example of being the first to sign on several sheets. Caregiver Melissa and friends Liz and Keith had fun staking out some things I really wanted to make sure my bid was the highest. Actually Keith was more subdued and became a knight in shining armor. But that is another story. I have to admit Dave's way of pushing up bids was a lot of fun.
 
This continued at the live auction. Sam's class had made a picture of the Portland skyline. Each student was given a 1 inch square from a picture and asked to draw it in a 4 inch square. The squares were then assembled to made the picture. Several parents really wanted it so the bidding was brisk. At the end I told Melissa to keep my bid card up. One of the women realized what was going on so kept doing a higher bid. Her husband did not realize what she was doing. He kept saying what are you doing. You know we agreed to only go to a certain bid. Dave would have loved that entire bid process and figured out a way to share. I did learn and have a plan. One of the fathers at school is a professional photographer. I want him to make a copy of the picture and so I can give it to each family. That would have been the kind of thing Dave would love.

Part 2 - The difference between ordeal and adventure is attitude. 

Now about my knight. The auction was held at the Melody Ballroom, a place where many of the school parents had fond memories of high school proms. When the 4 of us went in the first question was where is the elevator? " There is not one, we have a stair climbing chair." He then proceeded to bring down a platform that stayed horizontal as it came down the stairs towards me. With some trepidation I rolled on. Or attempted to. This is when Kieth steps in. There is a pin on the underneath of my chair that slips into a bracket in the car similar to a trailer hitch. This pin prevented my chair from going up the ramp on the stair climber. Kieth got down on his hands and knees and figured how to manually hold the ramps so I could roll all the way in. Did I mention that someone asked how much weight the climber could carry? A casual answer was 500 pounds. I decided not to say anything knowing that my chair and me weigh over that. 

Now I am strapped in and ready to go downstairs for the silent auction. Sitting at the top looking down I remind myself " the difference between ordeal and adventure is attitude. " Off we go. Halfway there Melissa realizes that my computer is going to hit the ceiling. There I am halfway down with a man holding the entire weight. Melissa gets the computer off and we finish the stair. Whew, that was interesting. 

After the silent auction it was time to go up the stairs we had come down and another set. Once again Kieth helped me back into place This time a larger man helped and they were able to get me up without any excitement.
 After all the fun it was time to go down the very wide marble stairs. I was nervous sitting at the top waiting for the second man to help and looking at the people lined up to pick up their purchases. I am sure they were nervous too. Once again. The difference between ordeal and adventure is attitude. This time I had to say it more than once. No reason to worry, they got me down with no problem. Between the energy used at the auction and the nerves going down the stairs I was tired. Melissa must have been exhausted because she started workat 8am and did not leave until eleven.
 It was a very good evening and I think Dave would have agreed.