Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Event: AIDS Walk 2007

Mom and Sis and I spent a Sunday afternoon volunteering for AIDS Walk 2007. We thought we were signing up for a simple stroll around Central Park, but it turned out to be a 6.5 mile walk all over the west side. We started in Central Park, then continued down the west side all the way to Riverside Park, then took a turn and came back into Central Park again. All along the way we were joined by great, passionate people, all there for the same reason: To raise awareness and money.

It was a really great day. Here are TOP 1o greatnesses, in no particular order:

1. Mom and I waited for Sis for 45 minutes, called her cell phone a million times, worried about whether we'd find her in time for the walk. Turns out, she was on the subway the whole time. And when she exited the subway, she found us immediately, in the middle of the crowd.

2 - Rumor had it, George from Gray's Anatomy was there! Where?? I don't know! I looked for him all over, tried to find the main stage, but never found him. I wanted to see George!

3 - A group of free-spirited little girls from a public school in Brooklyn (particularly, one of the last few hippie educational establishments left in our crappy system), shouting over and over and over and over again.... "What do you want? A cure for AIDS! When do we want it? NOW!"

4 - Cheerleaders!

5 - Amazing ice cream handed to us on the side of the road by volunteers.

6 - Alllllllllll the people!

7 - Never finding the team we were supposed to walk with, but running into friends at the end of the day!

8 - Walking behind a group of people led by a woman wearing a stereo system on her back, playing Motown music. Why walk when you can do the hustle?

9 - Mom willing to use the port-a-potty

10 - Finding a diner on the east side and commiserating over the loss of feeling in our legs after the long day. And taking pictures of each other across the table on our camera phones.