After creating today’s Morning Brew, I told myself that the 15,000 steps 🚶♂️ weren’t going to just magically appear on the counting App.
One hour later, 6000 down and just 9000 to go. God’s scenery 🙏 helped the cause !
Just 3 random shots taken along the way.
The opportunity to work alongside Vickey Ritchie and her network of kind hearted souls ♥ that make up the Carroll County Special Olympics Basketball program is Priceless.
This past Sunday was the latest time and despite having to postpone the event twice and a less than desirable weather day outside, the Hillsville Elementary School Gym was full of Love and Electricity. From start to finish, roughly three hours worth of exactly what we hoped to accomplish 🙏.
Yes, Vickey Ritchie is the 🙎♀️ Face of the Day and I’m the voice, the amount of people it took to accomplish this is a long one.
Being that saying Thank You 🙏 is one of my favorite things to do, Why not give it a shot….
Thank You to the folks at Hillsville Elementary School 🏫 for their support in both the use of their facility but also for having some staff on hand to help guide people to the right place !
Thank You to everyone who participated in being ” The Crowd “. The trick to the day when you are holding the 🎤🎙🎤 is to constantly be reading the room to see just how much I had to do on my own versus what the crowd would bring ??? The crowd was AWESOME, from start to finish 👏
Thank You to our very own SRO Chris Mabry for absolutely crushing the National Anthem to get the day started for us 🇺🇸.
Thank You to Mr Ron Cochran, Ethan Richardson and CC Mitchell for being our three officials ! Can’t play Hoops without them.
Thank You to each and every person who played the role of Unified Partner during the 12 quarters of Basketball. Patrick Smith, DJ Delp and Dr David McPherson to name a few but there were many more. As Vickey says, the goal is to have the Partners blend in with the players and support them in a manner that is a MUST have for this to work.
Thank You to the trio of young Ladies that stepped up to help Coach the four teams !
While Velvet Leonard is the one that I have personally interacted with the most during my six years here, I would like to say Thank You to EVERYONE who took a Photo 📷 or a Video 📹 Sunday afternoon. Because so many people did this the flow of the 💘 has poured on for days and days.
Thank You to my 👰 if 41 years for both picking me up from the Airport, once I finally made it 🏡 and for her understanding of how important it was to try once again to be there for Vickey and her Athletes.
Thank You to those who invested their time in working the Snack tables, the game clock ⏰ and the scoring book 📖.
Thank You to the folks that helped Vickey both set up the Gymnasium and then put it back together afterwards.
Thank You to everyone able to park on the far side of the building to make it easier for those who needed the shorter walk 🚶♂️.
Thank You to Money 💰 Talley for the opportunity to stand by him as he soaked in the excitement of the day in a manner that resembled a Sponge 🧽 soaking up water 💧.
Thank God for Blessing me with a Skill Set 🙏 that allows me to do the things that I do as I March through Life trying hard to bring joy to others.
Finally, Thank You, Vickey Ritchie for entrusting me to be your Voice for everything you stand for !
The old saying that it takes a village is very true and the Village needs a strong, strong leader to guide the way. And in this case, our Leader has a Voice to assist her on her journey !
The World 🌎 is a Better Place with Vickey Ritchie in it !
More from Sunday :
Spending time with Velvet Leonard was a highlight for sure as she was hard at work with her camera 📷 in a show of support for Special Olympics Basketball 🏀♥!
Still More :
We are going to have to de-ice 🧊 the Plane before taking off so I might have time to tell one story about The Basketball 🏀 Classic
Once again, the young Lady 👩 that I proudly call our Third Daughter, happily gave of her time, effort and energy for the benefit of others !
Thank You Ma’am for being you !
Thank You to Chris and Laynie-Jo for sharing her with so many people !
Vickey Ritchie is a NEAT, NEAT Lady 👩. Maybe as neat as they get. It’s now Friday night and I have finally made it all the way to Marshall University, which will be our ( West Virginia Tech University Baseball) weekend home.
I was actually able to spend a few minutes at this one place I kinda like…
Why add things to do on what was already going to be a long trip to and from Utah ? Easy one to answer there because last time I flew back across the country, we had to fly right back to beat the storm.
I wasn’t sure if my Brain could handle it if we had a second empty trip. Adding two other Big Ticket 🎟 items would protect my psyche ( Vickey will later tell me if I misspelled that word.)
I had to pick an Airport to fly into and the choices were RDU and use our tickets to watch the Duke University Women play North Carolina State or Ashville and make the 45 minute drive 🚗 to Travelers Rest. Easy Choice there…
We were supposed to host Lawrence Tech (Georgia ) on Saturday and Sunday afternoon in Beckley at our home stadium but that was moved to Marshall University ( 2 hour drive 🚗 each way) and condensed to an All You Can Play ▶️ One Day event because…….. they are calling for Snow ❄ and a bunch of it, starting Saturday night at Midnight.
I have been nervous about looking at the Hillsville forecast because there’s nothing I can do about it now.
5:00 am Flight ✈️ back out of TRI Airport in Blountsville, Tennessee could be interesting when its all said and done.
This brings me back to why someone would fly 5,000 round-trip twice just to hold a 🎤 for a few hours ?????
The first time that I was told by a Doctor ( Dr Dale in Luray) that I was on the brink of a stroke and about to Kill myself, Doc told me to stop ✋ pushing the envelope for people. He said, I want you to close your eyes 👀 and ask yourself how many of these people you are doing things for are attending your funeral ??
Doc got my attention and I moved to an Island 🏝 and lost 140 pounds 💷. Silly me, I thought I could do better the second time around. Driven is the word I choose but others would say loony tunes…
I have simply never met another human being that I believe is chasing the EXACT same thing I am – Inclusion, 24 /7, across the board ♥.
If Doctor Dale was here, I would tell him that Vickey Ritchie would attend my funeral, hopefully 🙏 not anytime soon !
Seeing Alyssa play Ball was terrific, starting our 18th season of Golden Bears 🐻 Baseball is way Cool 😎. But the reason for this trip is to stand beside Coach Vickey on Sunday afternoon !!!
I wish that I could tell people that creating a story in the manner that I do just happens but that would be lying.
Yesterday afternoon, with the tip of the Junior Varsity Boys 👦 game until a few minutes ago is what it took to try and send off our four Basketball 🏀 teams with the amount of respect that I believe that they have earned.
Minus ➖ a two hour nap and the 25 minute drive to the Airport in St George, the mindset was to send off our Basketball teams with elegance. I hope that I accomplished just that and I equally hope that this next flight ✈️ includes a NAP.
When the Hoops season started it was my plan to hang out with my Friend and Neighbor, Kris Richardson and provide coverage for his Middle School Girls team and then move on. A couple of twists and turns altered the game plan and anything worth doing has to be done ✔ at 100% commitment…
We board in a few minutes so, fingers crossed 🤞. I will check for Swim 🏊♂️ updates on the other side !
