Saturday night was Mark's third trip down the runway in the PADRE Foundation's annual fashion show. He rocked it, as always, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
This year, I also learned that it pays to have friends in high places. Shanda's dad John Kunkle is an auctioneer (he even has his own TV show, Container Wars--watch it!) and when I asked if he'd volunteer to help us out, he didn't even hesitate. He was in!
John helped out in the (not-so-)silent auction, encouraging bidders to bust a move. After the auction, he and his wife Debbie joined us at our table during dinner and the show.
"Do you think we'll get better seats because John and Debbie are with us?" my mom whispered. I giggled, because I'd wondered the same thing. We usually end up at the back of the room, somewhere between Siberia and the exit doors.
Turns out we got GREAT seats! In fact, we were at Table 1. They placed us there so John and the MC could scoot backstage easily. Oh, and the MC was none other than Miss America 1999 and the former host of the dLife TV show, Nicole Johnson. That's right, we sat with Miss America--we were definitely moving up in the world!
The dinner was good, and the videos they showed of the kids during various PADRE activities was great. We spotted Mark kayaking in the Catalina video, and in some of the summer camp pictures. And of course, they flashed the kids pictures on the giant screens during dinner--I got the Kunkles and Miss America to join my mom and I, screaming for Mark every time his picture appeared.
They also showed videos on the big screens, of the parents and kids discussing how their lives changed with their diabetes diagnoses, and my eyes welled up almost immediately. The ceremony dragged on a little bit, but my favorite part was the raffle. A bunch of little kids stood onstage with Nicole Johnson, who asked them their names and ages. The two littlest kids were a big hit with the audience.
"How old are you?" she asked one adorable little boy.
"Three," he answered, waving at the crowd.
"And how long have you had diabetes?" she asked.
"Twenty years," he answered, very seriously. The audience lost it.
John got up and worked his magic, raising a ton of money during the auction. Bless his heart--I'd told him about the past couple years, when people donated crazy amounts of money. This year, however, someone turned the donation waterfall off, because no one wanted to give at first. John finally coaxed some money out of them when he lowered the amounts, but man, I felt bad for him at first.
But then, finally, came the best part of the night--the kids. This year's theme was Invincible, and boy, did the kids play up to that. They came onstage for the opening number, dancing around in astronaut suits. (I didn't quite get the correlation, except that maybe astronauts are invincible? Whatever, it was a fun dance!)
There were a couple other dance numbers, one by the boy performers group and one by the girls. But then the music amped up, and it was time for the models.
The show is actually a full-fashion show, sponsored by Macy's and featuring their clothes. They have professional adult models walking the runway as well, and I recognized some of them from the previous years (yes, Michelle, the crazy hip lady was there, although she's learning to walk better--didn't look like she was going to throw out a hip this year!).
The kids did a fantastic job--I am just so impressed by them every year. They come out on stage to blaring music and flashing lights, to a huge ballroom filled with 50 tables and 500 people staring at them. The runway is long, too--lots of room to panic and go running backstage. But they moved forward, each of them walking to the edge of the runway, flaunting their stuff, then walking back up the runway.
Mark did an excellent job again this year! He'd complained after practice that he was walking with a really hyper kid this year--what he failed to mention was that it was a little kid. Seriously, he's only like four years old! (And to make things even more challenging, the little guy had a low blood sugar right before going on stage...poor guy!)
I think they picked Mark to walk with him because Mark's so great with little kids. But here they came, both of them so cute and proud, Mark leading the little guy like a true champ.
The boys came back out together during the finale. They held their signs up, telling the number of years they've had diabetes. It's so weird to see all those signs--so sad and inspiring all at once. You just want to hug all those kids and make them feel better, but at the same time, you realize what heroes they really are, and that after all those years of living with diabetes, they really might just be invincible. But invincible or not, they're still just kids.
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