I will explain the title of this post in a minute, but first I want to tell you about the start of my evening.
I am in New Mexico this weekend attending the annual Erin Trujeque Memorial Golf Tournament and gala. I have been attending this event in some capacity for the past 12 years. It is a major contributor to the Children’s Cancer Fund of New Mexico. Now, if you are new to my blog, you may not know, but I am a childhood cancer survivor. I have benefited directly from these 2 organizations and am so happy that as a long term survivor, I can lend my support to them. Tonight was the gala event. It is held at one of the casino resorts here in Albuquerque. The evening started out very different this year than previous years. I got there and walked into the ballroom and for the first time, I didn’t recognize anyone. I was a little afraid that I wasn’t going to see some of my close friends, but as the event moved on I saw them. So I am wandering around the silent auction before dinner and I ran into several people I hadn’t seen since the event last year. It was very nice to see them and catch up. One of the main items that was being raffled off was a brand new Lexus. I am not sure of the model, champagne does that to me, but it was worth about $40k. Raffle tickets were $100 a piece, and they were only going to sell 1,000 of them. So I did my part and bought one. Standing next to the Lexus was my good friend Justin. I have known him for 16 years, and he is a survivor as well. As I was talking to him I found out that he is married and expecting. When I heard that he and his wife were expecting, my jaw dropped. Like me, he was given enough chemotherapy to destroy any chance of having kids, and the doctors told him that he was not going to be able to have them. The Lord works miracles, and he is going to be a dad. After congratulating him, I started talking to him about the car. He entered as well and we made a deal that if he won it, he would give it to me so I could drive back to Tucson. 😀 More on that later… So dinner goes well, salsbury steak with mashed potatoes and asparagus. Once the live auction started, with Diane’s ever popular cookies that went for $10k, I was free to roam around and find people. I found my friend Petra and her husband Jason, and talked to her for a while, just catching up. I talked to a few other people and the night was winding down, but there was still the car to give away. As they announced they were drawing for it, the room got eerily quiet. They drew a ticket and I am sitting there hoping its mine. They call out the first name…but pause on the second…they can’t make it out. Now, with the first name, which wasn’t “Scott”, I knew I was done for. But the name they called, “Justin”, peeked my anticipation. Diane walks over and screams into the microphone the last name of my good friend. I couldn’t believe it, my friend just won a car. He couldn’t believe it either, he had to be dragged up on stage to accept. After he came down I went and congratulated him and graciously let the deal we made previously slide on the technicality that we never really shook on it. 😛 It is such an amazing thing when you see someone who could really use a new car, who has survived cancer, and who’s birthday is today (ya go figure) win. I thanked God that he won it and that he is here to win it. I hope I can go to lunch or something with him before I have to leave.
Tonight was a really good night.
Oh, and we raised $467k for the Childrens Cancer Fund of New Mexico.
Spud's Place 