photo by me

This weekend was a really good weekend. It’s not that I did anything spectacular but it was a good weekend.

On Saturday, I went to work out at the club. As I was passing the kid’s room, I looked in and saw Justice. I called to him and he came running over (in that cute 2-year-old run) with arms outstretched to say hello to me. The young woman in the room was laughing because it was so dang cute!). I didn’t want to alarm her (because they are very careful who comes into contact with the kids) so I told her that I was his aunt. She said she could tell that I was someone close because he doesn’t do that to very many people.

I walked up stairs to do cardio and Shadow was there. He pointed down to the gym and there is miss Willow, trying to play basketball. “Aunt Dawn!” she calls out. “Hi, pretty girl!” “Watch this!” She throws the ball at the basket. She’s at least 5 feet off but it was such a great effort, especially considering that she’s under 5 feet tall.

The four of us had planned to meet for lunch. We were going to a benefit for one of Shadow’s co-workers. The secretary in their office has a husband who has advanced stage cancer. He’s a full-grown man who weighs 97 pounds. Can you imagine?

He was there and just to look at him broke my heart. Then to hear their story, I wanted to take care of them. She makes about $26,000 – but, as Shadow says, holds the entire department together. The go-to person is paid the least. The person who knows the most is compensated the least. Then to top it off, she is the sole-supporter of the family now. And with the astronomical medical bills, they are floundering.

Heartbreaking.

I did my taxes and am getting a good return. That’s pretty nice and will be used for my trip to Vancouver in a month. Yay!

On Sunday, I met Shadow, Jennifer, Willow, and Justice at the club again to work out. Shadow and Jenn were showing me some training that his physical therapist gave him. It’s a great workout for toning and one that I will incorporate into my routine.

Justice didn’t want to hang out with his parents. He wanted Aunt Dawn to hold him. He was upset when I gave him to his Dad as we left.

Then I had to go over to their house to pick up some things and again, he wanted to be with me. As I was getting ready to leave, he started screaming and crying, trying to get me to hold him some more. He didn’t want me to go.

I’ve heard of that happening when parents drop off their kids at daycare and I can’t imagine how they deal with it. It breaks my heart.

See…not all that exciting…but just really nice. My heart was touched over and over all weekend long.