Opening Ceremony Friday, July 23Farm Pond 100 Dudley Road Framingham, MA 01702
Schedule for the Day:4:00 a.m. - Crew members should arrive. 5:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m. - Walkers should arrive. 6:30 a.m. - Opening Ceremony begins with community stretching.
I just pasted that in from the official 3-Day site. They have released some travel information for The Boston Walk including the opening and closing ceremonies locations and "night-before" and "night-after" hotel information. The route is still being finalized and no info is up yet on specific cheering stations but I was happy to see this! Farm Pond is where it all began for me four years ago. It will be great to be back there; this time with family and a whole network of support people who, like me, didn't have a clue that first year what it was all about but who are now up to their eyeballs in it! In a good way!! That year, my cousin, Caroline, had just been diagnosed and The 3 Day was the only thing I could come up with that would make me feel like I was doing something about it. I had no idea what I was getting into - and my kids didn't understand why I was going on these long walks or why I was having conversations with their dad about who we could ask for more money. And the youngest one really didn't understand why I was going "camping" for 4 days without him. As I've suggested here before, they definitely get it now. Perhaps not fully, but the parts that are probably most important for their generation to grasp have certainly become part of their paradigm since my first foray into 3-Day territory.
I remember my first trip to Farm Pond Park like it was yesterday. My tentmate Jenn and I woke up at 4:00 AM to catch the shuttle over from the Framingham Sheraton. We were both first timers and our bleary eyes struggled to take it all in. Beautiful, bright eyed women of all ages, who looked so much more awake than we did, were handing out stickers, and leis and glow sticks and flowers. They had on plastic-grass skirts and were dressed all in pink and their shirts had catchy slogans on them (some were even a little bawdy). We didn't know how to react or what to do with the stuff they were passing around. So we just rode the bus and blinked and breathed. I started to wonder if I was surrounded by crazy people and if this time away from my job and my family was going to have been worth it; if it would make a difference; if I would fit in and enjoy myself. To make matters worse, I hadn't had any coffee yet, so the questions just came in a cluttered and colossal cloudburst - then the bus stopped.
We were told to lug our gear over to the trucks for transport to camp and then to join our fellow walkers down by the stage to stretch and warm up. The bus door swung open and this colorful line of ladies proceeded toward the trucks. As we got closer, I could hear the music blaring. I recognized the song immediately, because I had spent many an hour singing along with it as a child - It was Neil Diamond; "Sweet Caroline." Everything came into focus. I knew why I was there. For Caroline; and for every little girl who might spend hours singing in a swing with one less thing to worry about. This would be only the first of many signs or messages or minor epiphanies that would come to me regarding The 3 Day over the years. But the bottom line is, it was just what I needed to sling the lei around my neck, put the stickers on my badge, fasten the flowers in my hair and hold my pink pinwheel high in the air. And to join My Fellow Walkers down by the stage.
I remember my first trip to Farm Pond Park like it was yesterday. My tentmate Jenn and I woke up at 4:00 AM to catch the shuttle over from the Framingham Sheraton. We were both first timers and our bleary eyes struggled to take it all in. Beautiful, bright eyed women of all ages, who looked so much more awake than we did, were handing out stickers, and leis and glow sticks and flowers. They had on plastic-grass skirts and were dressed all in pink and their shirts had catchy slogans on them (some were even a little bawdy). We didn't know how to react or what to do with the stuff they were passing around. So we just rode the bus and blinked and breathed. I started to wonder if I was surrounded by crazy people and if this time away from my job and my family was going to have been worth it; if it would make a difference; if I would fit in and enjoy myself. To make matters worse, I hadn't had any coffee yet, so the questions just came in a cluttered and colossal cloudburst - then the bus stopped.
We were told to lug our gear over to the trucks for transport to camp and then to join our fellow walkers down by the stage to stretch and warm up. The bus door swung open and this colorful line of ladies proceeded toward the trucks. As we got closer, I could hear the music blaring. I recognized the song immediately, because I had spent many an hour singing along with it as a child - It was Neil Diamond; "Sweet Caroline." Everything came into focus. I knew why I was there. For Caroline; and for every little girl who might spend hours singing in a swing with one less thing to worry about. This would be only the first of many signs or messages or minor epiphanies that would come to me regarding The 3 Day over the years. But the bottom line is, it was just what I needed to sling the lei around my neck, put the stickers on my badge, fasten the flowers in my hair and hold my pink pinwheel high in the air. And to join My Fellow Walkers down by the stage.
Eight weeks from tonight, I will be more than two-thirds of the way thru my 60-mile journey. The photo above is of my assorted and aggregated "3-day stuff" which is kept hanging by the light switch next to my bed. It serves as a constant reminder of how much further we still have to go. And every time I hear Sweet Caroline, I re-commit to being there every step of the way.
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