This weekend, my sister ran in a tutu for Tanner. Afterwards, she wrote this:

Wow. Life is a journey, a path that has been laid before us – to help us learn, love and grow. To push ourselves and just HAVE FAITH. In life and each other. I will readily admit, sometimes my faith falters… I think it does for everybody. Some days I am brought to my knees by grief. NOT because I feel sorry for myself or wish for a different life, but simply because I look at my kids and my heart swells and breaks at the same time. And I know many many parents face this and probably much worse than I do. I have the time. I can clockwatch, as my sister says. Though it may seem torturous, and some days it is, I am blessed with knowing now that life is moments. The here and now, not yesterday and not tomorrow. We have to cherish each and every breath we take. I have been taught that and have been blessed to make EVERY moment that I can of Tanner’s life be memorable and meaningful. I have at least that time for now.

Today was so meaningful – to see my best friends and complete strangers donning a tutu for a child they do not know, to lend support and compassion – not just for Tanner but for all the boys affected by this, for the sheer strength it takes for them to get through their days, and to remain so happy and to accept their path with such grace and dignity. I was crying a bit on the run… because I was completely overwhelmed by the kindness and goodness of peoples’ hearts. Even the people on the sidelines yelling my name in support of Tanner and the tutu overwhelmed me. And how can I even begin to voice how my heart felt as Tanner crossed the finish after the 5k – holding my hand – to all the cheers for him! My heart grew 3 sizes today – and I didn’t think it could grow anymore!

In about five weeks, she’ll do it again. In New York. At BlogHer. With Tanner. Because – and I’m totally going to spell this out, because it is such a wonderful thing that I whisper it to myself over and over and over again and it feels good to say it out loud – she and Tanner are coming to BlogHer. And she’ll don a tutu, again, and so will I, and she and I and a troop of tutu-wearing friends will run and we will bear Tanner on a tide of tulle-frilled awesome and our hearts will swell together.

And if we cry together, well, don’t say that I didn’t warn you.

(If you’re coming to BlogHer, please come run with us. How often to you get to hit the streets of New York in a tutu? And for a good cause? Never, that’s how often. So. DO THIS. Or! If you’re not coming to BlogHer, just wear a tutu sometime that weekend, to run or to walk or to do anything – shopping for groceries, grilling hotdogs, hitting the pool – in a demonstration of solidarity with these muscular, swelling hearts. And send me a link to the pics if you do.)

(You in?)