David raised enough money last year to send another family on a Make A Wish adventure of a lifetime. This became a dream of David's when we were on our Make A Wish trip to Disneyworld, but it became a reality this summer with some incredible work by Francesca Casaregola. With a mission from David, a dream from me and some incredible leadership from Francesc, David's Dream team raised over our goal of $12,000, the cost of an average wish experience.
The staff at Make A Wish had said that they would try to set up a meeting for David and the child who's wish he granted but as time went on I assumed this was not something the other family could do and we were ok with that. Then, out of the blue 2 weeks ago I received an email from Kirsten, the Director of Development at Make A Wish, and she shared that the "G" family wanted to connect with David and me.
I was so excited that David might get a chance to meet this family as I knew it meant a lot to David. As my day went on I went to meet my friend Kim from Niskayuna and when I reread the email I realized that the wish family also lived in Niskayuna. Kim had lived in Niskayuna forever and knows EVERYONE, so I figured I would ask if she happened to know the "G" family.
When Kim arrived to meet me at Blaze she had one of the children with her who she does respite work with. He was adorable and had me totally entertained from the minute he sat down to eat his cheese pizza. He had an obvious strong connection to Kim and you could just tell that he enjoyed his time with her.
As we were eating I was telling Kim how I had heard from Make a Wish and asked her if she knew the "G" family. Kim's eyes teared up and she pointed across the table....through incredible disbelief she explained that the little guy with her was one of the boys from the "G" family. He was the brother of the Wish child!!!
Immediately Kim connected me with Mrs G and we were quickly both in tears sharing our shock that I was at lunch with her son and that we both knew KIM! Our chapter for Make A Wish is all over the Capital District, it covers a huge area. How is it possible that David's wish was granted to a child who was connected to a very close friend of ours? How was it possible that on the day that I received an email to connect me to the "G" family that I also happened to be at lunch with Kim who had one of the children from the "G" family with her????? Also, how was it possible that this all happened at a time that David was really struggling at school and had been suspended for 5 days and really needed something good to happen to cheer him up?????
Since connecting to the "G" family David is in contact via text with Ben, the child who received the wish. David and Ben text frequently and have already realized that they both love Queen and bowling! David has asked Ben lots of incredible questions and has been having some of the best text conversations I have ever read from David. He asks Ben frequently if they are friends and Ben continues to assure David that they are.
David has such pride in the fact that he provided a wish for another child, but beyond that he is even more excited to have made a friend through Make a Wish.
Truly, the world works in the most incredible ways at times. I will never understand how in this whole wide world it happened that David provided a wish to a family who was connected so closely to our friend Kim and how Kim and I happened to be having lunch together with one of the "G" kids when we found out that David had provided the wish to the "G" family! Such a small, crazy world we live in that creates crazy coincidences that lead to awesome friendships!
