My favorite communities

First, thanks to friends I made my goal of $1000 by my birthday! Thanks to Elizabeth Black, a dear Jessup friend who is great on encouragement and advice. She added Florida to my list of states. Next, thanks to my friend Chandra. She started out as a work friend but has become a great trivia buddy too. Thanks to Katherine Wright, who was one of my senior year roommates. Finally, thanks again to Rachel Roberts-Galbraith (and I assume her wonderful husband, Kyle) for their SECOND donation and a wonderful birthday present. Next stop: 50% of my goal and then $2300!

So for those of you keeping track, my state count is:

1. North Carolina


2. Georgia


3. Missouri


4. Wisconsin


5. Illinois


6. New York


7. Virginia


8. Tennessee


9. Alabama


10. Pennsylvania


11. Oregon


12. Florida

So, my post is late because Ben's cousin Mario was in town last night from LA. He played at Smith's Olde Bar with Trevor Hall and the show was great! Before the show, we took Mario to Fat Matt's Rib Shack for some great ribs in Atlanta and one of his favorite places that he talks about (he even called Gigi, his wife, to brag that he was going). Over dinner we talked about lots of tops but one that kind of stuck with me was talking about places we would live. One thing that was mentioned was that it would be hard to leave friends in our current cities.

It made me start to think about the different communities I belong to. We have great friends here in Atlanta from all different walks of life and activities that we are involved in. I'm involved with Kappa Kappa Gamma alumnae activities. I have met a great group of women through helping with Emory's chapter. They are people that have some of the same beliefs as I do but they are very diverse women.

Ben and I are involved with the Emory Alumni Group. We love getting to see old friends and catch up. It is a great outlet for lots of different activities and we love to go when we can.

We're also involved in a potluck club. While at times I think it is something my parents would be involved in, I love it. We just hosted the July dinner at our house and it was so much fun to have 13 people over to our house to chat and enjoy Mexican food, our theme for the night.

I'm involved in a wonderful community of volunteers from all over the world that help with the Jessup Moot Court competition, an international law competition. There are regionals and nationals all over the world and in the spring students from around the world descend on DC to compete and have fun.

There are so many other "communities" I am involved in but the newest one is the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Last year there were 3500 people that walked in Atlanta alone. As I sat the expo and looked at the women and men around me, I was very excited to be part of this new community.

This was even more evident last weekend as I walked by 6 mile walk. A woman stopped me and asked if I was walking the 3-Day. She had on a camelbak and said no one else would be walking with a backpack! Her name was Bunny Lenhard, and she is walking the Michigan 3-Day for the second time and her niece is a survivor. She started offering me advice and when I mentioned I was getting tired of the same route, she offered to tell me different routes she uses.

This community may be new to me but the encouragement I feel from it is overwhelming. I am so excited to be walking the 3-Day this year and to be part of this wonderful group of women and men! Don't you want to be a part of this wonderful community of people that includes walkers, crew members and contributors?

Happy Walking!

Meredith