DM Part 1

"I don't want easy, I want crazy. Are you with me baby, lets be crazy!!" I Want Crazy, Hunter Hayes

IT'S HERE!!! DM IS HERE!! AHHHH!!!! Today's the day for miracles and hope and dancing and craziness!! 

So today is going to be full of blog updates on this post! Pictured above is half of what I'm bringing to the event. One of the best ways to stay awake is to participate in the theme hours so that is exactly what we're going to do!  Updates to follow :)

6:00: Morale captains try to get us excited! WOOOO!!!

7:00-900pm: We started learning the line dance! There's like 30 snippets of songs shoved into a 7 minute time span. Oh boy!

 

9:30 SISTERS CAME TO VISIT US!!! We are so excited to see them and they brought us goodies :) :) 

10:00pm I REACHED 750!!!! Thank you everyone who helped me raise it FOR THE KIDS!! And Kate and I were able to dress up in high school cliques. 

 11:00pm: DESSERT BAR!!

Tee Shirt Time

So as the pattern continues, ANOTHER DM POST!!! Today's showcase is the back of the shirt!! Kate and I are very proud of our handiwork and the saying we came up with.

Today also consisted of finding out that Brandi and I got into the talent show we auditioned for! Now to go write a paper, do laundry and then survive the weekend. Got this.

We Did It

Catherine posted this on my Facebook a while back and of course I immediately saved it. Positivity AND Hunter? That basically sums up my life. 

I post it today because she was right. I can do this. And by this I mean raise enough money (AND help someone else raise enough money) in order to dance. I have surpassed my original goal and I have raised 600 dollars so far! I will get that last 150 so help me lord!

 I got word a few hours ago that my soon to be dance-buddy raised enough money to be invited to the event!! This is so exciting because she has never experienced DM and I really didn't want to experience it alone!

Of course I had help with these. It took people to raise this money. People and generosity. But Kate and I had determination on our side and we accomplished our goal!

Things I was also able to accomplish today? Laundry. I also (finally) went down and deposited my paychecks from Disney and went and found the rest of the supplies for the birthday party this weekend. Successful day is successful.

Working At It

Considering I didn't finish crafting until 1am and I didn't get home and fall asleep until 2am, I already knew that waking up this morning was going to be exceptionally difficult. My alarms started gng off at 645am and I didn't even hear them. The first alarm that I heard was the one that starts at 750 and I finally acknowledged it at 758. My ability to sleep is mind blowing sometimes. 

I decided that I could skip my first class because A) we were watching a movie, B) I was exhausted, and C) my throat was killing me. So I went back to sleep expecting to wakeup feeling better for work. This was not the case. I woke up 20 minutes before work and I felt awful. My theory was still hurting, I couldn't breathe through my nose again p, and my whole body was aching. Needless to say I called out of work and spent the whole day resting, taking medicine, and fundraising for Dance Marathon. 

What I'm working at is having less of these days. I really don't like missing things but I have felt awful these past few weeks more times than not. I want to feel normal. Normal would be nice. I am also working at raising the last 150 that I need for my DM goal and helping one of my sisters raise her 150 in order to dance!!

So SO Grateful

These last two days have been insanely crazy!!! I have been scrambling to raise money for Dance Marathon and I'm so happy to say that I made it!! With everyone's help I have already raised 475 dollars!

I am so so SO grateful for everyone's support! When I woke up this morning and saw my total I was nearly in tears! Dance Marathon means so much to me so all I can say is thank you, thank you so much for everything you have helped me accomplish and for allowing me to participate again this year!

For The Kids

I remember looking up the events that happened on my college's campus way before I was had actually decided that I was going to accept their admission offer. I remember stumbling upon something called 'Dance Marathon' and reading the description going "Yes, I definitely want to do this. I want to dance for 20 hours how fun would that be oh my gosh" and then I forgot about it for about 8 months.

Fast forward to my first semester in my sorority and someone saying that she wanted to do DM this semester and wanted to know if any of the sisters wanted to join her. I asked what in the world "DM" was and she told me "Dance Marathon. You stand for 20 hours as a way of raising money for the Children's Miracle Network."

I signed up within the next two weeks and that is how my love of DM began. I attended the event with ten of my sisters (including my biggles!!) and while they were all miserable for the majority of the night, I was bouncing around like the energizer bunny telling everyone to be happy. I did the same thing the next spring only this time I had someone as equally peppy and excited as I was. My dancer-buddy-for-life as I called her helped me get through my second DM and it was even more fun than the first. We even had a life changing moment where we were told we could sit down. SIT DOWN. For about three seconds we started to sit. And then we all stood back up. No, we weren't going to sit. We weren't going to stop dancing or standing or fundraising until our 20 hours were up. Until we KNEW what our final total was. Until we knew that we had done all we could during those 20 hours. And we didn't. We raised 701,493.16 during the months leading up to DM and DM itself. I thought it was higher but I was incorrect. 

This year it is only me and one other sister who are trying to dance at the event.  Its more difficult for us to raise money as a smaller organization but instead of putting a cap on how many participants each organization can have go to DM they have it so that only the top fundraisers are able to dance. That is how it has always been but this year there as been so many people who have signed up to dance that the rule of "only the top fundraisers are allowed to dance" is actually being enforced. You would think that they would change the rules a little to allow people from each organization who want to participate to actually participate. They changed the rules and made it exceptionally difficult for the smaller organizations on campus to have as much participation as the larger ones as we can no longer due dancer substitutions which hinders participation. But I digress, that isn't the point of this post.

The point of this post is that when I chant "F.T.K." or when I hear "just keep dancing" I actually mean it. Children's Miracle Network is one of the places my nephew would turn to if we needed to find more answers or alternate treatments. Dance Marathon is an experience that touches (most) people (ie people who actually care and are not there just because it looks good or because its an easy way to get community service) on a level that they might never have experienced before and might never experience again. For 20 hours you have hope regarding the human race. For 20 hours you know that you are doing something to help those kids. For 20 hours, you are proud to be tired and in pain and feeling like you'll never be able to stand again because you know that what you're doing matters.

I've got two weeks to earn my way back to Dance Marathon. I shouldn't have started this late, I know that. I was way too worried about school and getting other girls to sign up. Today I sent out six emails and IM-d a ton of people. I will make it back to DM even if I go by myself. I will dance. I will help those kids and I will spend my last spring as an undergrad participating in the most important thing that my college has given me. Dance Marathon. For the Kids.

If you took the time to read this and it impacted you in anyway or if you just want to help please donate here:
http://noles4kids.kintera.org/KatiBowen