Inspiration Monday

Happy Monday everyone!  I hope you all had great weekends filled with lots of fun fall activities!  I had a pretty good weekend, filled with lots of babysitting, running, studying, and a very special walk for a disease that is near and dear to my heart.

Before I begin, I thought I would try out a new theme for Mondays, Inspiration Mondays (maybe I'll even create a link-up - if there isn't one already!).  Our blog at my old company used to do this and I always thought it was a neat idea to get people going when Mondays can be so hard.  We all need a little inspiration sometimes :)

Anyway, this past Saturday I was very lucky to join a small group in a Walk for Myositis in Columbia, MD.  Myositis is a rare autoimmune disease that causes chronic muscle weakness and fatigue.  There is no known cure for the disease and no known cause.  When I was in high school I was diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis and underwent lots of different treatments to help me get better.  Luckily today I am in remission and feeling healthy and well.  

So this little walk this weekend meant a lot to me as there is very little funding for Myositis as it is a very rare disease, only 3-5000 children in the USA have my form of the disease.  The last time I checked the website we had raised over $7500 to support the cause so I was very excited to walk and help others learn more about the cause.

Well, Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and the location of the walk was a beautiful park surrounding a lake.  The leaves were changing and it was just a picture perfect fall day.  We had a small but enthusiastic crowd and we set out to walk around the park.  It was just wonderful.  My parents joined me for the walk and it was great to just be outside walking for something that I believed in and wanted to support.  Although we didn't have the biggest crowd it was neat to be surrounded by people that have had similar experiences and understand what I went through.  It was special.  Here are a few pictures from the day:

Beautiful view across the water

Mom and I in our walk t-shirts!

Geese on the lake...uhh surenity

Gosh it was just so beautiful, I'm glad to know of this wonderful park now!  Do you have a cause that is near and dear to your heart?  Have you supported it lately?  Walks and runs are huge in October and it is the perfect time of year to get out and support a good cause - go for it, it's definitely worth it and you'll be glad you participated!