19 Days ago...

This is something Dustin has been working on and wanted me to throw up on the blog. I think technically now its 20 days ago, but who's counting.


19 days ago…
19 days ago something pretty cool happened. No… it wasn’t a “Happy Hour into a lush fest at Landmark” what so many people my age do on a Saturday night (not that there is anything wrong with that). It had nothing to do with going to a sporting event, a vacation or going out for the first time in a new outfit. For me, 19 days ago, was an event that I will never forget. It was where people came and ate beef (and more), drank beer (and more) and just overall had a good time. To me however, it was oh so much more.
19 days ago I saw friends from every aspect of my life… even the shady ones. From church, college, to high school, to my beloved Cmedia coworkers, to radio colleagues, to fellow fantasy football nerds, to the many parents of the aforementioned friends. Now I have never been one for buffet style eating, where the choices are vast and the limits are nonexistent , but seeing all the people who made it out despite how close we may be or how recently we may have communicated, has now made me think that so many choices from so many categories isn’t such a bad thing. I saw friends who I haven’t seen in 5, 7, or even over 10 years. I also saw friends who traveled as far as Pittsburgh, Washington Dc, and even Tennessee. Now, anyone who knows me would know that I would rarely shy away from calling myself awesome. But, despite how awesome I always knew I was, I couldn’t help but feel undeserving of all the attention. Awesome as I am, I’m just Dustin, the sarcastic, sometimes shy, easy to complain, guy who used to eat too many fish sticks as a kid and who openly admits a love for the movie “Love Actually”. None the less, seeing so many people that I am grateful of knowing forced me to do just about everything I could to not start crying tears of thankfulness. It was definitely a very profound “God is good” moment in my life.
19 days ago I was a loss for words seeing the unbelievable coordination, organization and preparation that was obviously involved in an event like this. Over the past 4 months a number of people spent a great deal of their personal time planning for this event. People like Kate Dooner, Matt and Alex Belyus, Jordon Claruis, Tom Pratt, Chris Deese, Ashley Justin, who would meet monthly to go over how things were coming together as April 10th approached. People like Keith Reed who took it upon himself to offer up his professional skills as a tattoo artist and create a raffle, generating The Human Fund’s first funds. Even the dozens of people who volunteered on the event, whether it was serving drinks, food, selling raffle tickets or working the silent auction touched me profoundly that night. And finally last but definitely not the least, I want to thank my two brothers, my best men, Aaron Thompson and Steve Justin. The work that these two put forth for me not only made me feel pretty damn special, but it was also mighty inspiring. Here were so many people doing so much for little ole me I couldn’t help but feel inspired to get better so that I may one day pay this forward.
I could spend hours talking about the events of 19 days ago and will certainly spend my lifetime remembering it. I often feel that the simple words “thank you” don’t quiet do the trick for me when I’m expressing deep gratitude. So if you will allow me, please accept this as my thank you to everyone who came out, donated, spent time with me, organized, cooked, and was a part of my beef and beer. My thank you will be this: Everyday when I wake up and I fight every fight of this disease I will think of you all. When I am down and depressed I will think of you all. And as every day goes by and I continue to attempt to make ALS my bitch, it will be you all that I am thinking of every step of the way.
19 days ago it was called a Beef, Beer and More. Now I’m working so that I can call it my Lifesaver.
With all love,
D-man