Help Alexandra raise money

I've been procrastinating writing my fundraising page for this race for a while now.  Sure, I've been busy.  Working long days, even some work travel and planning a wedding.  But the truth is, as often as I share about my mother and the loss of my mother, sometimes it just feels heavy and it was easier to keep pushing it to the next day on my to do list.    

It's been almost fourteen years since losing her, and people say it gets better with time.  I have learned it's more like my father told me, "Losing somebody so beloved is like a physical injury.  At first everyone can see it.  It's in plain sight and everyone is concerned and will ask how are you, do you need anything?"

Eventually, what was once a gapping wound will start to heal.  It won't be as raw.  But you will always have a scar.  You can always feel it.  Some days more. Some days less.  And some days it feels like that very first moment.  in shock.  Raw and open and painful and awful.  It never goes away.  But we learn how to allow ourselves to feel the pain, feel the loss.  And be ok.  

Knowing the loss I felt, having had an incredible mother with whom I had an amazing and loving relationship with for 23 years before her death, I can't even imagine the pain that comes along with losing a parent at an earlier age or with a complicated relationship.  I understand that no two losses are alike, nor should they be compared for any reason, but suffice to say my heart aches for others who experience this massive loss.  So when I found empowerHER, I immediately jumped at the opportunity get involved.  I applied to be a mentor.  {I am still patiently awaiting my match.}  I served on the Mothers Day retreat committee this year and immediately signed up to run the Falmouth Road Race in their honor.  The work this organization does to bring love, light and real life support to young girls and women who have experienced the loss of their mothers is humbling.  The thing that can often feel so painfully isolating, the loss of your mother, empowerHER shows these gals that you are not alone.  They are always here with you.  There is this incredible organization full of women who have survived that very loss, with their arms outreached ready to hold your hand when you need it.  EmpowerHER reminds us to always remember: Your feelings are a gift, You are enough, And it's ok to ask for help.  

So as I embark on the 7 mile Falmouth Road Race, on what will no doubt be a hot summer day this August, I will be fueled by the memory of my mother Pamela.  Who will be remembered not for her death, but for who she was.  She was full of energy and optimism {almost annoyingly so to my teenage self!} her favorite color was purple and she always wrote with a purple pen sending handwritten notes to everyone she loved.  She was a full time mother to my sister and I and loving wife to our father.  After writing part time through our childhood, she went back to school while I was in college and got her Masters Degree from John's Hopkins University in Non-Fiction Writing and had just started her dream job as a professor at Howard Community College in Maryland.  She loved birthday cake {even getting cake for relatives who lived out of town} and insisted on getting the actual number of candles for how old she was turning.  54.  That was the last number of candles she ever blew out on her cake.  So I will be running for Pamela, and all the other mothers who were taken too soon,  fueled by her borderline annoying optimism and desire to always lift others up with her.  {I think I might have inherited those traits} I am running for all the other girls who have lost their mothers.  I am running for community and the knowledge that you are not alone and though the pain may never go away, we can go on, stronger together.  I am humbled to support empowerHER.  So yes, your donations are supporting me. But you are really supporting this amazing organization https://www.empoweringher.org

With love and gratitude, 

xxalexandra