Rick has left the Relay for the time being and has returned home to his positions running the Foundation, being a husband and most importantly serving as a father to 3 young ladies. We had some fantastic early momentum and we know that it will just continue to build as we move through the rest of Newfoundland.
I had the opportunity to be at the Glovertown Arena for their Meeting Point experience and I met two very funny and outgoing young men (Russell, and Josh). I will add a picture below that I took with them, but I have no service on my Blackberry through these rural parts, so I cannot access my pictures just yet.
Josh is a young guy who is just hilarious and a huge ham with pretty much no use for shyness or nervousness. He is 22 years old but looks much younger. A few years back, he fell and suffered a serious head injury. He slipped into a coma for several months and the prognosis was not very good. Doctors reported to his mother that if he came out of the coma, he would most likely be in a vegetative state. He came out of the coma and the side effects were quite remarkable. It seems that now he is just always happy. He is always cracking jokes, entertaining, and be the centre of attention. He says what he thinks, and what he thinks is pretty random and funny. We had a short drive to our community stop and things were a little too quiet on the shuttle for him so he took it upon himself to entertain the fellow Medal-Bearers with his own renditions of a couple Hank Williams Jr songs. Then we had just enough for a little of the B-52's Love Shack! "Love Shack Baaaaa---baaaaaaaaayyyyyyy!"
Russell was our last Medal-Bearer of the day and he was very excited to be a part of everything. I was riding "Misty" for this segment and got to escort Russell through his last segment and into our End of Day celebration at the Ball field where a Community Planning Team from Glovertown had a really nice BBQ set up for the residents and Relay Team. Russell got to run through a corridor that everyone created and received high fives as he stood in front of the gathered crowd, proudly wearing the Rick Hansen Medal and smiling brightly as the crowd clapped. Its moments like that where we as the Relay staff get to come out of our focused "operational mode" and become human again and just enjoy the experience and realize how special this Relay is to so many people. It brings it full circle and we are re-energized after a long day and excited to get up and do it all over again with a new group of Medal-Bearers in new community. If you are not already a "Fan" of Rick Hansen on Facebook, I would encourage you to become one and read some of the posts that people have been posting after their Medal-Bearer experience and those who are still yet to come. I usually try to do this just before going to bed. It really makes it easier to get up early the next morning! :)
So 25 years ago, Rick's team played a softball game against the town of Glovertown.We were made aware of this during our planning and our team managed to arrange to do the same thing again. So, while the BBQ was going on, a team of local residents took the field against our Relay staff for a friendly competition and camaraderie. The Relay team struck first with 2 runs in the first inning, but that was quickly answered in the bottom half as the locals posted a 3 spot of their own. From there the game remained tight with neither team managing for than a 1 or 2 run lead. We hit the 7th and final inning in a dead lock at 7-7. Extra innings lurked in the air, but after a long day, I guess our Relay team decided that 7 innings were going to be enough. We struck early and often in the 7th inning, posting 4 runs before recording an out. When all was said in done, the Relay team walked away with a 14-8 victory in a game that was much closer than the score may indicate. It was so fantastic of the residents of Glovertown to host us for a BBQ and a softball game. What a great way to end a long, hot day with some incredible people. THANK YOU SO MUCH GLOVERTOWN!
(Again, check back for pictures once I get service again).
Jonesy
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