Free Ice Cream

I don't live in a "neighborhood." Sure, I live on a street surrounded by other houses, but I wouldn't call it a neighborhood because there aren't any neighbors in the houses. Its really a seasonal community. Its the beach; what can I say?! Our family is in the minority in that we are "year-rounders." Most other houses on the street are occupied by their owners or by week-to-week beach visitors in the Summer and mostly by URI students September through May. Many are vacant nine months out of every year. So my boys haven't really had that experience of hanging out with the neighbors' kids and I feel kind of bad about that but then again, they do get to live at the beach! Anyway, this year, they have had a neighbor - A family with a daughter named Isabelle rented the house four doors down. They moved in last September and they will be leaving in about three weeks. (They have a sail boat and will be living on that for the Summer) I am sincerely hoping they come back next Fall because the boys have had a blast with Isabelle.

The weather has been so nice over the last few days and this little trio has ridden their bikes in the street til they can barely peddle anymore. They have played Star Wars with every stick long enough to resemble a light saber and have watched for marauding pirates from Isabelle's rooftop deck. Sunday night, she managed to convince my boys (yes, my most boyish of boys) to make a fairy bed with her from azalea flowers so her twinkly little imaginary friends would have a place to sleep. So sweet.

One night last week, when my husband got home, he asked why the boys weren't outside with Isabelle. I explained that I was making them help organize the sports gear in the basement - lacrosse helmets, baseball gloves, cleats, pads, bats - all strewn about the house (we need a better system, but I'll deal with that later). So my husband says, "But didn't you hear Isabelle? She's standing in the middle of the street between her house and ours yelling 'Free Ice Cream!'" The boys grabbed their bike helmets and darted out the door.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that the boys were not actually expecting free ice cream when they got to Isabelle. They were merely expecting that she would want to play. It was quite the clever PR effort on her part - and there was no false advertising involved because no pact had been broken; no trust had been violated. They all knew better. Isabelle only wanted to lure them out; get their attention - no one ever had any intent to share ice cream. The plan had worked and it was worth the minor deceit.

We kind of do that with The 3 Day. We lure people out with our talk of how awesome it is - how it changes lives - both for the people who participate and for all the people who benefit from the research that it funds. We tell them how much fun camp is and how yummy the snacks are and how everyone they meet will touch them and brighten their day. Its all true, of course! But nobody goes into it without also knowing that it will be hard. We all know better. Its hard on your body and soul. Fundraising is hard, training is hard, and the event itself is hard. We are "too inspired to feel tired" but our feet do hurt. The stories we hear lift our spirits and energize us but also break our hearts.

In the end, huge numbers of us keep coming back for more; and convincing friends and relations (and total strangers) to do the same. We don't do it year after year in spite of how hard it is. We do it because it is hard. So yeah, we know better. We know its totally worth it.