The Cat Walk is Over!

My major assignment in the PTA is the Cat Walk fundraiser. Many of you know the story of last year when Ellie was chosen as one of the winners of the limo ride and breakfast with the principal. You may also recall that I heard Griffin screaming at the other end of the school when he wasn't chosen, but even worse, she was. It put me in a horrible spot and I thought I solved it this year by having a family prize of certificates for Tralfaga Fun Center. I would never go through that again!

Well, the prize assembly was this week. I calculated the number of laps--translated into miles--walked. The kids walked from Orem to Disneyland and back! They raised nearly $4000! The class with the most number of laps was one of the sixth grade classes (92 miles!). The student who walked the most laps and raised the most money from each class got a certificate of recognition and a cheesy prize. They all got to sit on the steps of the stage. And now, the drawings for the prize packages. First, preschool. Then kindergarten. First. Second. And through all of these, Griffin was getting more and more upset each time his name wasn't called. (It didn't matter that he wasn't in those grades.) It was time for third grade. I knew he had five entries in the drawing, but I also knew (since I filled out all the tickets) that one of his classmates had 18 entries! The principal reached his hand into the third grade bag. I said a quick prayer, the typical, "If there's a God above, please pull Griffin's name." I knew Griffin probably wasn't breathing. I looked in the principal's hand and thought I saw a G on the ticket. The other girl didn't have a G in her name. Did anyone else? I couldn't remember after filling out those hundreds of tickets. Mr. Beckstrand said, "Griffin Asplund!" He walked up to the stage, his face red and eyes puffy from crying the whole time. Mr. Beckstrand says, "He's so happy he can't stop crying!" I knew better. Ellie was already up there for raising the most money in her class and greeted him like this:

They stayed like that for quite a while, even as the other winners were chosen. Then we announced the class winners (both of the laps and the money raised). Griffin's class raised the most money (over $300)! Yeah! Ice cream party! The grand prize winner was announced (a winner by $0.65!) and the prize given away. My job was done for the year, and we survived. That night, I took Griffin out for ice cream so we could have some time to talk about the events of the day. We decided that it was okay for someone else to win next year and that we could be happy for them. I realize that day is nearly 365 days away and we'll have to talk about it an awful lot between now and then, but it's a start!