Hi Everyone!!!
Okay, I have lots to share with all of you and some pics (which aren't the best quality thanks to my hubby, Jake). LOL! I should demote him from picture duty!
Well, Saturday I started getting ready around 12:30 even though it didn't start until 6:00. I was sooooooooo nervous! My mom showed up around 1:00 to bring some of the special makeup I had ordered from Avon and to offer help getting ready or whatever I needed. Of course, I took full advantage of that. It's great to have Moms!!!
So by 2:30, I was completely ready to go. I showed up at Jake's workplace and showed him my "look". He had no idea what I was going to wear. His face immediately turned red (in a good way) and said I should put my black leather jacket back on. He was embrassed and didn't want the other guys to be staring at me. He finished around 3:00, and we went to the local mall to kill some time.
At 5:45, we arrived at the Berkshire Country Club. OMG!!!! This place is a 5-star kind of place. There I finally met Sandy, the lady that Jake works with that asked me in the first place if I wanted to attend this event. She was really nice, and we clicked immediately. She walked us over to the main check-in table where we were handed an envelope filled with a program, raffle tickets, and our seating table. Jake went to sit down, but she and I checked out the raffle and auction items. The items that were to be auctioned were signed paintings, tickets to Phillies games, 1 week long resorts to Myrtle Beach, S.C. and so much more. There were 46 items in all to be auctioned off. The raffle prizes were things like $20.00 gift certificates to get yoga or hair care, purses, hand cream kits, cooking stuff and on and on. I'm sure you get the idea. There were around 100 of those raffles prizes. We each placed our raffle number tickets into some of the raffle item drawings that we wanted to win.
Next she showed me the food and bar area. OMG!!! They had unlimited free drinks and food. There were 5 international food stations, each with 4-5 different entrees For example, one was Italian. That station had eggplant parm, stuffed shells, creamy alfredo, and two others. Three of the five stations were Italian, Greek, and Spanish. I guess you know which ones I ate from since those are the only ones I remember...
Then, we searched endlessly for Cindy, the woman who set all of this up. We couldn't find her out of the 213 people that attended. I was to speak with her about my speech beforehand. Like I said, Sandy (Jake's co-worker) was the middle-man. It was discussed that I would speak, but we wanted to meet first. Well, I couldn't find her.
So we finally sat down with request from one of the sponsers. At our table was 4 other people from Bob Fisher Chevrolet. They were the big shots. I thanked them up and down for the opportunity. The wife of the highest big shot loved me so that was a really good thing. The others liked me too, but she was the most noticeable.
Anyways, the one sponser spoke. Then another. Then there was this slideshow about Cindy's 3-year-old daughter, Amelia, who has CF. That's was when I found/met Cindy...but it was too late. I DIDN'T get the opportunity to speak! I was disappointed but knew I'd catch her later.
After that, there was the auction, which took nearly 2 hours. THEY RAISED $11,400.00 FOR CF RESEARCH IN THAT 2 HOURS!!! Some of the paintings went for $400 each!!! Other items, like 2 100% real cheetah fur pillows went for $700.00!!! I know! Crazy money!!!
Then, there was the raffle prizes. I WON A GOLD PURSE/BACKPACK! I thought it was so cool since I never even was able to win an Easter egg hunt or anything!!! LOL! Also, I happened to be sitting at the marked chair at my table and won the centerpiece!!! I know, cool!
FINALLY, I had a chance to approach Cindy, which I embraced. I said, "Hi, I'm Jennifer Cuello, the 25-year-old with CF that Sandy told you about." Her eyes nearly popped out of her head. She couldn't get over the fact that I looked so healthy and had CF. Then we talked and talked and talked... Before I knew it, I did have about 15 people surrounding me. Some were CF parents. We exchanged phone numbers, emails, and addresses. I offered to speak at any other CF event so long as I wouldn't really be exposed to other CFers and to her later if she wanted to. She was thrilled! This event was the first one hosted at Reading ever! She said she will surely use me in the future, not just for this event but others as well.
All in all, I had a great time. I really enjoyed myself. A few times they pointed out the life expectency and tears kind of started to fill my eyes. I tried to focus on something else for just a few seconds. They also had said a prayer in the beginning that also made me slightly emotional, but I concealed it well. No one knew, other than Bob Fisher, that I had CF.
I never really got to dance, though. DARN! Jake was thrilled about that! It was already 10:00 after the raffle drawing so it was time to leave.
Still, I really enjoyed everything! I would do it again. You know, my whole life I never really felt like anyone cared...ANYONE. Except for my family, husband, and well you know...It was nice to see that there really are some people from the most unlikely sources that do care...It was nice to for once feel like I did kind of matter outside of my direct family...I NEVER really noticed how much I felt this way until I went to that event...
Well anyway, I am going to post some pics. Enjoy!!! Sorry, if I mess this up!!!!!!