What an emotional day today was.
Jade told me weeks ago that she wanted to participate in a 5K run. At first I was skeptical because lets face it...as far as I'm concerned...unless someone is chasing you...why on earth would you want to run?
Then she told me WHY she wanted to run. A dear friend of hers took her own life and this run was to support mental health and suicide awareness. She wanted to run in honor of Sam, so ALL of my support was behind my girl.
I was super excited to make signs cheering her on.
My plan was to get the map of the route and find the halfway mark and be standing there with our signs cheering her on. It kind of happened that way.......
In the midst of all my surprise planning for Jade, Joel called to let us know that he was done school on the 29th of April and he had to be out of the residence by 11 AM on the 30th. So early morning April 30th I headed down to Windsor to pick up Joel. His plan was to bring his stuff home and then have me take him back to Windsor the next day, because that was when he could move into his new place in Windsor. Mom had a slightly different plan. I hadn't seen the kid since Christmas pretty much, so I put my foot down and told him he had to come home for a week so I could see him for a bit before he went back to Windsor, cause to be completely honest.....once he's there, I doubt I will see him very much unless I force him to come home. I love my baby but he gets so caught up in his own life and friends he tends to forget to check in with us from time to time. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for him and proud of him that he is making his own way in the world...but he's my baby....forever.....and always. Nothing is ever going to change that. Anyway......So now my plan was a tiny bit modified. Now we were going to go to the halfway mark and cheer Jade on, but now Joel was going to be with us and then when the race was over we were heading to Windsor to take Joel's stuff to his new place. I honestly liked this plan a bit better because Jade is very supportive of Joel and is there for him whenever he needs her, so it would be nice for him to be there for her as well.
So all week I was saying we need to leave by such and such a time so we can be at the halfway mark so we don't miss Jade, so make sure everything is ready and done so we can just get up and go. Well..if you are reading this blog chances are you know my family and know that never really happens!! Anyhow we got up on Saturday morning and after getting the truck all packed 30 minutes later than what was on Mom's master plan.....we headed off for Chatham.
As we were driving my phone rang and it was Jade. She was calling to ask when we thought we would be getting to Windsor and hopefully we could meet up with her for a bit of a visit.
I got her race number and the secret was still intact! We wished her good luck on her run and continued on for our halfway mark surprise.
The run started at 10AM and we got to the halfway mark at 10:19 .....then I started to worry that we had missed her, as there were quite a few people running - something close to 500 or so. We were looking for runner number 575!!
We parked the truck and got out with our signs and sat on the curb to wait for Jade!
As I sat there I started thinking to myself how great this whole thing really was.....and my eyes started "watering". I chalked it up to the weather....but come on..we all know I cry at the drop of a hat!
We watched a number if runners go by and then I saw her. As soon as I saw her I told Joe and Joel that she was coming and I held up my sign. I could not cheer from the huge lump that was in my throat. I knew when she saw us, because like her momma, she burst into tears as well. We all jumped up to hug her and tell her how proud we are of her and encourage her to keep on going. It definitely was a surprise! Then my waterworks continued when Joel asked her if she wanted him to run the rest of the way with her. Of course she said no I'm okay, but he said too bad I'm coming anyway. So Joel ran the remainder of the race with her. How did we raise such great kids?
The race workers that were at the halfway mark thanked us for coming and told us how awesome it was that we came out to support her. Huge lump..still in throat....couldn't talk...I just smiled through my tears and hopped in the truck. We were off to the finish line! The final leg of the race was a loop around the park, so we could see them coming from across the way before they hit the last part into the big finish. Joel veered off just at the last part 
and Jade crossed the finish line I believe in a time of 41 minutes 30 seconds. Which is pretty darn great for your very first race. 
We got some shots of Jade in front of the race sign
and then some shots of all of us with our signs of love!
Then back in the truck and now Jade's car and we were off to Windsor.
As we were driving along, sadly we met 3 funeral processions at at each meeting Joe and Joel took off their hats as the procession went by as Jade and I sat in her car behind them bawling some more at how respectful her little brother was. Lets just say the day was full of tears!
We got Joel to his new place 
and got the truck unloaded, his bed all set up and had a nice visit with his friends Logan, CJ, and Mitch. I'm so thankful he has good friends. Then we headed back to Jade's apartment to grab the few things he had left at her place. We said our goodbyes to Jade and then headed back to Joel's place. In spite of numerous suggestions that Joel change his mind and come home for the summer, we unloaded the rest of his things, said our goodbyes to him and then headed home.
Emotional days can be so exhausting. Even when they are happy emotions mixed with sad emotions. I was in bed at 9 PM!!!!
Chow for now,
Jacqui
