My Celebration of Caring Experience [PHOTOS]

I'd been hearing about it for years, and was never able to find the time to make it out before...but I was determined not to miss it this year.  And I wanted my three-year-old daughter to be a part of it, too.  Even though I was sick for most of the weekend, I mustered up enough energy Saturday afternoon to head out to the Barnwell Center for Community Renewal's Maggie Lee Henson Celebration of Caring.  I took a few pictures while I was there to highlight the experience, but was unable to get any audio to share with you.  Hopefully, the photos are enough.

This was such a great event...which started with my conversation with a nice man and his daughter who were headed in at the same time we were.  It was great to see so many people already there enjoying such a beautiful day with each other!  Under a good-sized tent, Emma and I had a nice picnic lunch while we watched the Byrd High School dance line perform, Emma got a balloon AND Jelly the Clown was there making balloon animals (Emma ended up getting two poodles, since she popped the first one!), and then we headed over to the jumpy house so Emma could get her daily exercise.  Believe it or not (I didn't!), she got out on her own...with no coercion from mommy! 

Before we left, I got to chat with my good friend Bob Griffin -- and meet Jinny and John Henson and take a picture with them.  They're such a great couple, and so generous to share their daughter's memory and history of giving with the community by being involved in this event.  It was an honor to talk to them, and to be part of it, too.  I'm hoping to make this a yearly thing for us.

So you're probably wondering who won the Caring Angel Award.  I missed the big announcement, but did find out through conversations with others there that the honor went to....Fuller Center for Housing Director Lee Jeter!  He's much-deserving of the honor.  I'll have a longer post on that soon, so keep checking for it.  Meantime, here are more photos from the event...