Getty Experiences The Nutcracker

From Kate:

Let me just start by saying that Getty had an amazing time! AMAZING!

Okay back story. 🙂

Yes it is RSV season. Yes this is the time of the year when our SMA kiddos are most susceptible to illness. For the passed three years we have been in lockdown from October to March. We stay inside, we create our own little world in the confines of four walls and we hunker down in fear of illness. It is a real fear and it can suffocate all persons in the house. However, I will say that you can get used to it. I know I did. It was maddening the first year. Then the second wasn’t so bad. And this year I was ready to go. Lockdown was going to happen and we would be good. Until I saw a commercial on TV.

The Nutcracker was performing their annual ballet in Sacramento. I remember once going as a kid and while I did not walk out of the performance pleading with my Mom to become a dancer, I definitely enjoyed the performance. The music was amazing, the dancing was so beautiful and it I got an overall warmth that Christmas was coming.

So while Getty was napping one day, the commercial caught my eye. Then my brain started to ping around and I called to order tickets. I ordered tickets during RSV season. I was actually contemplating pulling Getty out of her sterile environment and taking her to a place that I had no idea what the level of germs were. I bought tickets for the 7pm show thinking that the likelihood of snotty and coughing kids would be surrounding her would be less. They had accessible seating, good. They were close, but not crazy close so it wouldn’t overstimulate Getty, good. But still it was a closed public theater and I had no control over what others may be bringing in.  I still bought the tickets.

I bought Getty a dress, a sweater and tights to wear. She would wear her ballet slippers. We were doing this!

This past Saturday, we all got dressed up, packed the car with all of Getty’s equipment, and all of the “what if this happens, worst case scenario items” and went to the see The Nutcracker.

It is not easy for us to really recognize what Getty is interested in. She is such an easy going kiddo, but also she can’t verbalize whether she loooves something. Well I am here to tell you that ballet IS her thing. From the moment the curtain went up, our child was in a ballet trance. We could see her eyes move from side to side, taking all of the intricacies of the production. Her eyes jumped up and down as she followed each ballet dancer. Her eyebrows lifted higher and higher as sets changed right in front of her. She cooed at different times as to show her “approval”. I know she enjoyed the music Getty loves classical music. Some of the music I know she recognized. Fantasia is one of her favorite movies. I often whispered in her ear, “you know this song remember?” Boy, did I learn my lesson. If a child could do a sideways eye roll, she did. “Mom, don’t bother me.” That is when I knew we had found something.

We had found something Getty seriously enjoys. We didn’t need to guess, we didn’t need to assume, and we certainly did not have to convince her of anything.

Classical music with people dancing=AWESOME!

The night was magical. I didn’t freak out about germs. It was one of those situations that you let it be and enjoy the ride. And we did.

I do believe that more ballet performances are in the near future. We found many performances on youtube already. I think Getty is already creating a “ballet list” in her head.

In the spirit of the holidays, we hope everyone has a beautiful, special, and safe holiday season.

Here are some pictures from our great night. Getty is usually scowling. That is her way of saying, “no more pictures, let’s get this show on the road.” 🙂

Team Getty 2013

From Kate:

We swam, we biked, we ran. We saw coastal shores, high hills of mountain trails and asphalt, blue and rapid waves of a lake, and wooded areas of plenty. We sweat, we froze, we sweat, we froze, we sweat, we froze. 🙂 We fell over and skinned our knees on several occasions. Sorry, not we, I mean, me. We cheered each other on, we patted each other on the back, we hugged, and we proudly wore our Team Getty shirts.

2013 was a beautiful year for Team Getty. Signing up for a race is all well and good, but it is the training and the getting ready for the day that seems to be the hardest. It is not easy to fit in days to run while also taking care of Getty. I would like to thank Mark for stepping in when I needed to get in some mileage.

I would say that right after our 2nd Annual Getty Owl Run/Walk, there was feeling of adrenaline running through my veins. I wanted to push myself more than I ever have. I wanted to sign up for as many runs as I could to get SMA awareness out into whatever city I happened to be in. That is when the ” crazy” began. A few of my crazy friends, who shall remain nameless, started signing us up for half marathons every other weekend. I didn’t even have a chance to say no, one of them had already registered me. Thank you both. That kind of crazy, I mean motivation was what I needed to continue pushing.

Our 2013 Team Getty was a band of amazing individuals that took the time to help spread SMA awareness. You guys are awesome and I hope that you realize how motivating it was for me to know that we were all doing this together. It felt comforting to know that our mighty team was rockin it out there.

I would like to thank:

Krista

Stacey

Mike

Mike

Chrissy

Rici

Shane

Caitlyn

Melissa

Maida

For their commitment and love this year. I can’t tell you how invigorating it is to have a group of people want to be a part of Team Getty. Selfishly what I do know is that every time each member stepped up to the starting line and completed their distance, they made a difference of educating hundreds of people about SMA.

The back of our Team Getty shirts say:

“1 in 40 carry the SMA gene responsible for the #1 genetic killer of young children. Are you a carrier?”

My hope is that participants of each and every event saw this message and took the time to contemplate its call to action. My hope is that after each and every race, someone went online and looked up our website to check out more information about SMA. My hope is that after each and every race, someone felt a sense of duty to tell another person about SMA. It always starts with one person and I hope it started a conversation, a question with a doctor, an overall demand to help fight the #1 genetic killer of young children. The more people that know and talk about it, the less places SMA has to hide.

In June I registered for the California International Marathon. I am still not quite  sure why, but at the time it was far enough away that I didn’t really have to think about it. Then as the months got closer, it was clear why I was doing this. I wanted to meet Getty at the finish line. I wanted to push myself farther athletically because in certain ways I wanted to show Getty that I could fight just like she does every day. I wanted her to be proud of me. And to know that she would be at the finish line after 26.2 miles seemed like the best possible scenario to accomplish that goal and to share a special moment with my little lady.

So the day came. I froze, I ran, I jogged, I walked, my knees gave out at around 20 miles, I ran, I drank water, I ate copious amounts of energy everything. I did not do this run alone. Chrissy thank you for being my wing girl in this whole journey. No way could have finished this run without your encouragement.

The finish line was coming closer and closer. At 25 miles I just starting crying. I knew I was near and I knew Getty was waiting. The flood gates of tears and my need to end this run so I could just hug her pretty much came to a beautiful crescendo as I turned the corner to the see a the beautiful FINISH LINE. And wouldn’t you know it, Miss Getty was right there waiting for me. They allowed Mark and Getty to come inside passed the gates to be right there. My heart just about blew up when I saw her pink jacket. My body seemed to push me forward as if I was on auto pilot just to get me to the end.

As I crossed the finish line and I immediately ran over to Getty to embrace her little face, grab her little hand and tell her how happy I was to see her. Never, in a million years will I ever forget that moment, how my heart melted, and how I could not wait to tell her how excited I was to see her.

Ironically, one of the things I really wanted to do at the end of the race was to give her my medal to wear. However, girlfriend was already adorning a medal. How very sweet it was for the volunteer to give her one already. I will never forget the look on her face as I realized she already had a medal. It kind of like, “I don’t need yours Mom, I have one already. What took you so long to get yours?”

So yay, 2013 was pretty much awesome. My one outlet as a mother is to run. Whenever I am stressed, whenever I need a chance to ground myself, whenever SMA just gets to be too much, I run.

So what does 2014 look like for Team Getty? Just as ambitious. I hope our Team Getty can grow in numbers and I look forward to spending time with our group of bandits, pirates, and/or crazies as I like to call each of us.

I am one lucky human being. I get to be this little lady’s mama.

 Here is to 2014!

BIG thanks!

From Kate:

This past Friday was a super busy day for support for Getty Owl Foundation and we just wanted to thank everyone for being so kind on generous.

Sacramento Kings

Our Kings Night was a hit. We would like to thank everyone who bought tickets. We certainly appreciate the support and we hope you had a great time. We got great feedback from so many of you, we just may do this again next year. Should it be against Lakers again? Or maybe another team?

Thank you to the Kings organization that have fundraisers like this for non-profits. After selling the tickets we raised over $700. That is so helpful for us to continue to help families affected by SMA.

Look for the Kings Booth at our 3rd Annual Getty Owl Run/Walk. So excited to have their support.

Dutch Bros.

The entire day of Friday, December 6th was dedicated to Bucks for Kids. The gracious and so awesome Grubbs family that owns three Dutch Bros. in the Sacramento area chose, Getty Owl Foundation as their local charity for Bucks for Kids. To be chosen first of all was so humbling. We could not be more thankful. Along with $1 for each drink going directly to GOF, but they also passed out our SMA Fact Card. I am not the best at math, but here is the equation:

#1 coffee in town

+  3 locations

+ SMA Fact card given to every patron

+ $1 of every drink donated to GOF

= a recipe for immense SMA awareness & fundraising

Thank you to ALL the patrons that showed up, shared the information, took pictures of the long lines of coffee crazy humans and their love of Dutch Bros. It was a very exciting day and we are just so thankful to Dutch Bros. for their kind generosity. Grubb Family you are are amazing and I think what is most important for people to understand is that you really care about your community.

So I encourage everyone to stop by their three locations, buy a drink, and tell them how awesome they are to support local charities.  Dutch Bros. will also be a sponsor at the 3rd Annual Getty Owl Run/Walk.

Here are their locations:

 UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

It’s Friday, Go Get Your Coffee At Dutch Bros. Every Drink Purchase, $1 Donated to GOF

From Kate:

An AWESOME company, Dutch Bros. and the owners (equally AWESOME) have chosen Getty Owl Foundation as their charity for Bucks for Kids.

 Stop by anyone of these locations TODAY, Friday December 6th, ALL day and $1 will be donated to Getty Owl Foundation. Every single drink ordered, $1 is donated.

Here are the locations:

5289 Auburn Blvd Sacramento, 95841

7445 Madison Ave Citrus Heights,  95610

8552 Madison Ave. Fair Oaks, 95628

Thank you ALL in advance. Now go get some coffee!!!!

Turkey Is Done, Now SIgn Up For The 3rd Annual Getty Owl Run/Walk

From Kate:

We are ready to get this “show on the road”.

Announcing early registration of our

3rdAnnual Getty Owl Run/Walk.

Mark your calendars for Sunday, February 23, 2014 in Crocker Park, Downtown Sacramento.

It is coming, it is happening, and it is going to be even bigger and better than our last two years. We are so excited to bring our run back to the Sacramento area.

Our continued mission of spreading SMA Awareness, raising funds for families affected by SMA and to help fund research to help find a cure for SMA.

In the last two years, we have raised over $50,000 from our Getty Owl Run/Walk. The outpouring of support has been phenomenal to say the least. It is an absolute humbling experience to see a sea of people all there for a common cause.  We are so excited to feel that support again.

In the months to come I will be posting about the run, just to keep the event in forefront of your mind. But for now here are a couple of items of info to check out.

Race Information

Registration

We would like to thank our sponsors that are already on board with their support of Getty Owl Foundation and our Run/Walk. You have been so unwavering in supporting our cause and we greatly appreciate your commitment.

We are currently looking for sponsors to support our 3rd Annual Getty Owl Run/Walk. If you know of a company that would be interested in being a part of an incredible event that not only supports Getty Owl Foundation, but also supports healthy living and eating, please check out our Sponsor Kit.

So here we go. On to another great event and one that supports the entire family. Thank you to everyone who have supported us in the past, we hope to see you this coming year as well. Hoot! Hoot!