It is hard to find someone who has not been personally affected by cancer. Daren and I both lost our father's to cancer far too early. My father passed away on March 22, 2003 after an eight month battle with prostate cancer. Daren's father passed away on August 3, 2005 from lung cancer after an off and on battle which lasted a few years. Neither of us met our father-in-laws.
Because this event is a breakfast, I had to be at the Smith Center at 630am. Even on the weekends I am up by 6am. I don't know why. Heck, this would be considered sleeping in compared to when I used to get up for opening shifts with Cafe Carolina. So back to this Friday...the alarm went off around 515 or so. It was not easy to get up. I also felt the need to take a bit of extra time and care with my hair and makeup. Well, this morning also became my first experience with Braxton Hicks. Not good timing. While getting ready I felt extreme tightness in my stomach. I thought going to the bathroom would relieve this pressure but it didn't. I'm not even sure how to explain how I felt. I will say that this was the worst I've felt during this entire pregnancy and the timing was awful. My role for the breakfast was to greet the guests and show them to their tables. I was trying to ignore the uncomfortableness/pain as I made my numerous trips across the floor of the Smith Center. I was finally able to sit down a little after 8am once the event began. I think it was shortly after the start of Coach Williams' speech that I realized I finally felt normal.
The breakfast was a huge success. I think a large reason the tickets were sold out because of Coach Williams' recent cancer scare. We also had an amazing guest speaker in two time cancer survivor, George Karl. The silent auction and the live auction brought in additional money for cancer research. I even put in a bid on a Nascar experience for Daren and neighbor Larry to enjoy. I didn't realize how passionate Tar Heels fans are about Nascar. I didn't even come close to winning with my one bid.
One new thing this year was the addition of a Roy Williams' signed basketball on each of the tables. The idea was for the 10-16 people at the table to bid on the ball in the same manner as the silent auction. I was assigned three tables as my focus tables to inform them of this new feature. As I was talking with my tables, the Michael Jordan Nissan car dealership motioned for my attention. They wanted to have a second basketball available for their table on which to bid. I scrambled and ended up snagging the basketball from the UNC Baseball table. The event ended around 9am and I had to head back to the office to take care of my coaches. As I was leaving the building I came upon some of the guys from the Michael Jordan Nissan car dealership. They thanked me for getting them the second ball. What happened next really surprised me. The gentleman said, "Here, take the ball as a gift for your baby." I tried to refuse informing him that he had bought the ball, but he was persistent and insisted that I have the ball. So, I eventually graciously accepted.
Now I need to find a place for Bean's basketball. I hope the Carolina blue fits in with the gray and yellow. I'm writing this on Sunday and so far Friday was my only episode with Braxton Hicks. Will I be so lucky to make it these last three weeks without anymore? I would love that.
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