Had a little fun for a good cause

rubsluts'mommy

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So, some here, especially those who are also my friends on Facebook, know that my mother has Alzheimer's Disease. Last year I walked in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk, and almost as soon as it was over, I signed up for this year. Last year, I looked around and saw all these people in head to toe purple (the color for Alzheimer's), glitter, etc, etc... I had a small dilemma.

I'm a costumer. And I was dressed REALLY boring compared to everyone else. So, I vowed to make my presence known this year. I wasn't sure what I was going to do yet, but I knew I had to make it big. Flash forward to a couple months ago. I was rearranging my living room and had to take down the large purple (you can see where I'm going with this, perhaps?) dragon puppet head I made for my first short film a year and a half ago. It was hanging on the wall all this time.

That's when it hit me. Make a parade dragon with the head... BINGO!!

Of course, in the Land of Procrastination, where I'm the reigning Queen, I had gathered most of my supplies, but didn't start really working on the dragon until .... last night. The Memory Walk was this morning. Yeah.... that whole procrastination thing... needless to say, I was up until midnight last night, killing brain cells in figuring out how to get the vision in my head into reality. I made mistakes... didn't secure the scales well enough, didn't make the body long enough, etc, etc... and don't even ask me about how heavy the head was (newly stuffed with stuffing to reinvigorate the original shape), and the poles for carrying her through the 2 mile walk. Those will be fixed for next year... I'll build a bigger and better dragon.

Oh yeah, she has a name: Maira. I wanted something with a Celtic feel, but also honoring my mom, whose name is Mary. It's pronounced MAY-rah.

I dressed in one of my 12th century-ish costumes, and we carried her through the streets of downtown Portland. We were asked by one of the staff running the Walk to lead the crowd at the start of the Walk. We also won Most Spirited Team. One of the prizes I kept was a game basketball signed by several (if not all) of the Portland Trailblazers, our pro basketball team.

We got our picture taken by a LOT of people... even filmed a bit by one of the news channels... not sure which one, though. All with a small team of three people.

I think I'll be known as the Dragon Girl, even though my team's name is Penguin's Memory Chicks (my nickname is Penguin... llooooooonnggg story).

here's the link to the photobucket album from after the Walk... one of my team members took some pictures and posted them to FB. There aren't many pics, but I'll just post one here and then you can visit the album. I hope to get more pictures, such as the official team pic from the Alzheimer's Association... but for now... and yes, that's me with the purple doo-rag and sunglasses behind her.



The only thing I'll likely save is the tail... there's a good shot of the tip of the tail... which is in the shape of a heart.

I'll be back again next year... with some more improvements on Maira...

I know this is a long post... I have a tendency to be chatty... I'm a fiction writer... I love to tell a story.

My mother barely remembers she even has children... she's hovering between the last step of the Middle Stage and the Late Stage. She just turned 82 a week ago.

Thank you for reading... hopefully you made it this far.
 

calico2222

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Amanda, that is awesome! I love the dragon!! I can definitely understand why you got the spirit award.

And, my heart goes out to your regarding your mom. My grandmother had Alzheimers and it is heartbreaking. She passed away in 2008 after spending 4 years in a nursing home but the disease was affecting her way before then. It's so hard when the person you love and has been with you all your life doesn't recognize you. My grandmother told me more than once during visits that I was the nicest nurse she ever had, and she didn't recognize my uncle (her son) at all. It's a terrible, terrible disease.
 
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