VICTORIA, BC LYME RALLY

well, this weekend was the BIG event!

 as part of the World Wide Lyme Protest, we took part in a Lyme Awareness Rally in front of the Legislative Buildings in Victoria, BC.

On our way!

thanks to a generous anonymous donation, our family was able to attend. even harrison. he was raring to go. and as you will see from pictures, he insured that he was as visible as possible. i think the funniest is him peering over the shoulder of david cubberley, the director of the board of the canadian lyme disease foundation (canlyme), in the group shot.

ol' harri soaked in the attention he received from his adoring fans. he was a busy guy - working the crowd, kissing babies, taking advantage of as many photo ops as possible, and well, just meeting the people where they are at...
if i didn't know better i'd think he was running for office.

it was a long day. we left our home at 8:30am and did not arrive home until 9pm. both sparky and i have paid the price since but it was well worth it.

On our way home
A little worse for wear and a little sad the day is over

both graham and taylor were slated to give speeches but at the last minute, we made a switch-a-roo. we decided the girls would speak and the boys would be on film and picture duty. i had been asked to give a speech a few weeks back but initially had declined. i had really wanted to take a back seat at this rally and not deal with the stress of writing and delivering a public speech. the last 2 weeks have been incredibly busy and a speech was not even on my radar. yet, as fate would have it, on the night before the rally, i found myself frantically trying to pull something together. with graham's help, i was able to come up with a short speech.

last minute editing on the drive to the rally

fortunately, avery, who is an avid journal writer, had penned 2 entries that were "speech worthy" in recent weeks. however, she was unsure if she had the nerve to deliver them in front of a public audience. in fact, up until the morning of, she had decided she didn't want to. then as we were leaving for the ferry, she said she wanted to bring them with her, just in case...

the ferry ride went by in the blink of an eye as we had about 20 -25 travel companions - lyme friends from our local support group were able to make the trek over. it was a great time just to visit and be with people who truly 'get it.'

it wasn't until we piled into our van to drive off the ferry that avery made the final decision to give her speech. now, keep in mind, she had written two. both were excellent albeit there were a few sentences in each that we figured were a bit too pointed to make the final cut (something along the lines of how she'd like to spank a few doctors) so on the drive from the ferry terminal in Victoria to the legislative buildings, we worked furiously in a mad fast editing session and the final speech was produced just in the nick of time.

she wrote every word of it by herself and delivered the speech of her own accord. so proud of her!

it really was an incredible day. there is something so healing, so inspiring, so empowering about being with those who walk the same journey as you. and being able to come together as a collective group and fight for change. it was wonderful to finally meet in person the dear friends with whom i've forged on line friendships with. there were so many hugs and tears exchanged. i am honored to know and be in community with these very courageous and strong warriors. 

my recollection of the actual program and speeches of the day is actually a bit of a blur. i am so grateful that graham was able to so expertly capture it all and am looking forward to being able to sit down in the comfort of my home, with a good cup of joe and finally soak it all in.

Some of the Rally Speakers
(thx to SB for this collage)

as soon as we are able to edit the footage into uploadable formats for your viewing, we'll be posting them here on the blog as well as facebook and youtube.

so stay tuned!

we hope that you too, will put your feet up, grab a cup of coffee and watch!