The UPS man came today.  Paxton announced his arrival in his usual exuberant fashion.

The UPS man kept a respectful distance.  Funny, that!

It was a padded envelope and it was for me!  I love getting stuff (as long as it’s not bills) in the mail.

I opened the envelope.  Inside of it, was a smaller padded envelope.  It had Aiden’s name on it!  Aiden, if you recall, is my cute as a button little IRun4 buddy.

I opened the smaller envelope and a long string of colorful beads slid out along with a small note.  The note read:

Mel,

I am sending you my hope beads to help you with your big race.  Each bead represents a stay, procedure, med, blood draw, etc, that I have had while in the hospital.

Love, Aiden

 

I sat down.  Hard.  I was stunned.  Then I started to cry.

This was an incredibly touching, generous, special, meaningful, and personal gift!  I felt very unworthy of something so personal.

I may run for this kid, but Aiden is my hero.  Seriously!

He’ll turn 4 years old the day before the Berlin Marathon.  To think that he accumulated that amazing string of beads in 4 short years says a lot to the fight and tenacity he has in him to live. To succeed!  And to the support and love of his parents.

Needless to say, I’m going to run my heart out in Berlin for Aiden.  I will do my best to be deserving of this gift.

#IRun4Aiden