Out of the Darkness Walk
/I did my first Out of the Darkness Walk last Saturday. Five other members of our small Craftsbury Mental Health Group that was created after Wesly Death went to the Walk with me, their support was invaluable. I couldn’t have done it alone and Monique was nice to let us carpool with her. There were beads on the gazebo to grab yourself, each one has a different color. I chose the white, which was losing a child to suicide. Here is a list of the color meaning of the beads. The bead area and sign in area was a little hidden, but was able to locate it. I also got a t-shirt because I go donations over $150 (I actually got over $500 in donations plus another $300 from facebook). Their programs can’t combine the 2 accounts though.
We got there a little early, not knowing what to expect, not knowing where to park. It is a small community in Vermont so we just kind of hung out for a while. We wore our new Craftsbury Mental Health T-shirts and I bought some pins, and made a few of them with Wesly picture inside.
They spoke for about 1/2 hour, read a poem from a mom who lost their 15 year old daughter, I had trouble focusing on everything. Then we just walked all together for about 3 miles. There was a power to the presence of people that were there walking, affected by suicide. At the end of the walk, I was just thankful I made it (sorry, I don’t exercise much, I’m the short chubby one in the photo).
I did feel a little let down afterwards, maybe because I didn’t know many of the people there. There was food and people around, and it was a wonderful cause to donate to, it would have been nice to have a tree or board that we acknowledge after the walk that we walked for this person… Our group was able to give over $1100 toward the cause, which I am very proud of. Honestly, just making it through the day, was all I was looking to accomplish.. Wesly hasn’t been gone even a year yet, it still is raw, still painful, I still cry daily so just making it through, was all I was trying to do…
Has any one else gone on the Walk? What was your experience?