http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/stevekelley/2008453451_kelley01.html

What a blessing...for Cody to be known by so many. 

Thank you Steve Kelley and Seattle Times!

We are home - it is 3:30 pm - and we are all alive!  Don left the house early early this morning and began his race at 8am.  Our dear friend Jenny Wiswell took Cody to a designated "hand off' point near roanoke in Seattle and don pushed Cody the last few miles of the race.  The hand off went off without a hitch!  I drove straight to the stadium to meet Don at the finish line with CAsey.  I couldn't do the drop off because I would have missed Don crossing the finish line.  So THANK YOU Jenny!  You really went above and beyond!

So there I was at the finish line with Casey - with the Seattle Times reporter next to me who was awesome!  And we waited for "Team Cody" to cross!  I got worried because Don was later than "12:15" which was his latest predicted finish time.  (Turns out that after he got Cody, there were HUGE hills and Don's left hamstring cramped up so he had to pull to the side of the road and stretch out!  He was afraid he wasn't going to make it - or at least hop the last mile and a half!)  But he pulled through and ran through the finish line with Cody!  Casey and I waved our "Go team Graves" sign and screamed "Go Cody!  Go Daddy!"  I bawled. 

Then we ran to the end of the football stadium (Memorial Stadium is where the race started & finished.)  I finally found Don and we all united in a big screaming group hug!  Don made it without injury - though he was exhausted as you might imagine. 

We had a cheering section in the form of my friend Michelle Mirales who has a son (Riley) that has infantile spasms as well. 

Michelle and her boys were a huge help lugging all our supples back to the car - and helping me with the boys while we waited for Don!  Thanks, Michelle!!!

Cody did great - he crossed the finish line chewing on his red mardi gras beads - haha.  He had a cute little smirk on his face when I caught up with him.  Then he instantly wanted a banana.  So Cody did wonderful - Don did wonderful - I was a nervous wreck! 

There were so many details to attend to - that I made a gigantic error that I could kick myself for.  KING TV called at 7am to do a story on us, and I missed the call.  It didn't show up on my phone that I had a voicemail either.  Casey had woken up at 6:15am crying and I spent about an hour trying to get him back to sleep.  The last thing on my mind was my phone - I was trying to make sure Casey didn't wake up Cody.  Then once Casey was up, so was Cody, and the pandemonium began!  In all that hustle and bustle I looked at my phone several times - because KING and Q-13 were supposed to get in touch with us.  But there was never a "message" alert so I never thought to check my voicemail.  Then when I arrived at Memorial Stadium, suddenly "5 messages" appeared on my phone.  I listened to them and learned that since they hadn't heard from me, KING went on to other stories.  UGH!!!!  Technology is the pits.  So I hate myself for missing two potential TV stories. 

But Don has already assured me that the Seattle "Rock N Roll Marathon" comes up this summer so we'll have another chance!  Oy vay!! 

All in all, I did the best I could, I guess.  Just kicking myself for the TV side of things.  I'd sent the stations press releases and Q13 emailed me back that they wanted to do a story on us - and I emailed them with all the details but never heard back.  I wonder if my email got through?  Why didn't I call instead of email!?!  Again - DUMB!  I get so little sleep - I seriously think my thinking becomes impaired sometimes.  Or at least, that's a good excuse, right! 

So there ya go - all is well!!  I'll have a link to the Seattle Times that will be in tomorrow's paper.  Boy was that reporter Steve Kelly a peach.  He was so respectful and compassionate.  His photog, Thomas, was great too.  He jogged alongside Don as Don crossed the finish line!  That was cool!

Well that's it for now - gotta go take a breather and relax.  Tomorrow Don goes back to work, darn!  We'll enjoy our last night of vacation together knowing we did all we could possibly do for Cody today - that is a good feeling!

with love,

Shawna