We started our morning at 6am with physical therapy till 7, the occupational therapy till 8, Cognitive till 8:30 then Speech therapy till 9:00! The sacrifice of getting up at 6am for therapy instead of 8:30 am was definitely well worth it to Alex! A BIG thank you to Miss Jenny, Miss Lynn, Miss Laura and Miss Nicole for rearranging schedules so that Alex could get all therapies in before 9am in order to make our grand entrance by HUMMER LIMO to Pro Day.
We rolled up in our Limo and were taken to the Gator Weight Room where Robbie, Tim and a group of people were waiting to greet us! HOW NICE! What a warm welcome they gave us and were genuinely happy to see Alex. Alex got to have a little chat with Tim before he had to go out and throw for his big day! Thank you guys for making Alex feel welcome and special today.... for taking time out to greet us before you went out and did your "thang". So we hung out for a bit with Tim and then we all headed to the field.
Walking out there Alex's face just lit up like a Christmas tree.... soaking everything in the stadium and looking for any Gator player he could find to meet! Just an awesome awesome day and each player making their way over to Alex to introduce themselves, take a picture and sign his helmet that he has to wear everyday! Each one making personable conversation and really giving Alex a moment of their time. One of his fav's of the day was Percy! He is a looooong time Percy fan and really wants Tim to go to the Vikings with him, lol. And trust me... he has already voiced his opinion to Timmy!! He was too funny today and I felt like I needed to be in every conversation just to monitor everything that comes out of his mouth. He is in that part of recovery where nothing is filtered that comes out of his mouth. He is just raw and anything that comes to his mind ... he says! For instance.... most of the players that came up today he would say... "So... how tall are you?" "How much do you weigh?", "How fast do you run the 40?" and when they answered THAT question... his response was..."Oh you been practicing running from the police, you haven't gotten in trouble or caught yet so that means you must be running fast"! CRAZY KID!! OMG... I was like.... please excuse him... he doesn't process what he is saying and it just comes out. Of course they were all wonderful and just laughed! He didn't mean anything by it... he just thought he was being funny!! He told Dunlap when he came over to meet him that the Gators lost the SEC because he wasn't there! As Tim is warming up... Alex is yelling at him " Tim... Don't let me down"....lol.... Tim walks towards Alex right before he is up to show off and says " Alright... you ready Alex?".... Alex looked at him and said "MAKE ME PROUD"!! LOVE THAT KID!!! Alex you are still the same old witty character that you were before all this happened. THANK YOU GOD.... I give you ALL THE CREDIT... HONOR AND GLORY! How amazing my little miracle boy is!
Urban Meyer was standing about 20 feet away from us and Alex is steady in the background... URRRRRBAN..... URRRRRRRRRBAN.....URBAN... URRRRRBAN.....like he was his old friend......hahahahaha... finally I got his attention and said " ummm Mr. Meyer.. Alex is trying to get your attention". He turned around and then when he realized it was ALEX... the Alex.... he came right over, shook his hand... I thanked him for signing a picture for Alex back when Alex was in Shands... he was awesome! I hugged him... he took some pics with Alex....THANK YOU URBAN MEYER!!! Being that I am an LSU Tiger... forgive me for not knowing all of the players that came over to Alex today... I can rattle some names here.... hope they come out right! Spikes, Pouncy brothers, Major Wright, Cooper, Pierre-Louis, Percy, Joe Haden, Amaud Black, Dunlap, Brandon James, Charlie Strong...and I might be forgetting someone... please forgive me... my gator girlfriends will remind me and I will give due credit!
Riley Cooper... YOU ROCK!! He came over to meet Alex and signed his helmet. Alex says "Where'd you get those gloves?" Riley says "You want em?"... Alex said " yeah bring em back". Soooo when he was done for the day what did he do? GAVE ALEX THE GLOVES! Thanks Riley.... you have no idea what you really did for Alex today!
Pierre-Louis.... YOU ARE A NUT...YOU ARE AWEEEESOME! He came over to meet Alex earlier and took some pics.... when the event was over... we were walking down the field and he came back over to talk to Alex again. Alex looks at his cleats and says " Dang boy you got some boats on!" He said.. " You want them?" .... Alex said " Heck yeah"! Soooooo what does he do? He takes them off, right then and there... signs them and gives them to Alex.... walking away in socks!! GOD BLESS YOU!! He LOVES telling that story!
Tim.... WOW! Before Tim went into his press conference he came over and spent a little time with Alex and signed the ball he threw with today! Alex threw him the ball a couple of times... I WAS IMPRESSED with how well he did it! Great to see him just hanging out... being a kid....smiling from ear to ear....joking... THANK YOU TIM AND ROBBIE! What an amazing day for my handsome boy. I can't tell you how much it means to me and my family that you gave Alex a bit of his life back today! Alex told me today that this was HIS DREAM COME TRUE! That says it ALL! He thinks you and he are BFF now so just know you have a friend for life and he is already talking about the next time he gets to hang out with you and that Heisman trophy, lol.
Alex and I had a special photo book made for Tim of Alex's last visit here at Brooks and we gave it to him after his press conference. We hope you love it as much as we love our copy Tim! Alex also stood up out of his wheel chair to take pics with Tim.... way to go Alex! Once we left and were on our way to find the limo... we came across the place where the National Championship Trophies and such are on display. We took Alex in there and took some pics. He had a million questions about EVERYTHING! Like a sponge I tell ya! We finally diverted him outta there so we could head out and eat but he insisted on taking pics with the Gator statue out in front of the building. He wanted to get out of the wheelchair and SIT on the statue... well we compromised... he sat on the base of the statue :0)
We left Gainesville and headed home... stopping off at Sonny's in Waldo... WESTSIDE STYLE! How many people stop at Sonny's in a stretch Hummer Limo??? Well..That's how WE ROLL!
A HUGE HUGE thank you to "AT YOUR SERVICE LIMOUSINE"..www.limos4jax.com
..Thank you so much for getting us taken care of today and making Alex feel like a rock star! A heartfelt thank you for spoiling him today!! Robbie... thank you for the hook up and for being so thoughtful like that! Alex was tuckered out after a day of dreams come true and a belly full of Sonnys.... he wanted to lay down and so we stretched him out on the floor of the limo... he passed out cold!
As a mom going thru what we have been thru for the past 2 1/2 months.... you can only imagine what an incredible journey today was for us. I take myself back to day one... 3 hours to live.... Thank you God for another INCREDIBLE day with my handsome boy. Alex said to me today as we sat at Sonny's just chatting about our visit today... "It sucks I had to go thru this to be able to get us a day like today"...I can only imagine what runs through his mind. I asked him if he was in pain at all today... he said yes... I said what level... he said "10! But I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want to leave." Poor babe didn't even realize we could have given him some motrin or tylenol.... he just didn't want to say anything because he didn't want to leave. He has been talking non stop since we got back... in fact it is taking me an hour and a half to type this because he keeps having me stop and answer questions or give him attention... or turn out the light only to turn it back on again, lol. Today is indescribable! It was amazing to see my boy smiling and joking... relaxing...just hanging out with his IDOL. When hugging Robbie and thanking him ... tears welled up in my eyes... nothing I can say or do can express what I feel in my heart and what they have done for Alex. Today was much much needed for ALL of us... a day of worrying about nothing! Taking us out of the real world... to a wonderful fantasy world! THANK YOU TO ALL WHO MADE THIS WHOLE DAY POSSIBLE.... THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO STOPPED TO MEET ALEX AND GIVE HIM THE TIME OF DAY.... THANK YOU TIM AND ROBBIE... you are truly two amazing young men and I really believe that God is working thru you, as well, to touch the lives of many out there who don't know Jesus Christ. Thank you a million times over for taking time out for Alex today and for sharing a very important day of yours with him. This has been the best day of his life and you my friends gave that to him! and I LOVE YOU for that!!
We took over 1000 pics today between all of us and here are just a few to view tonight
A day we will never forget! Thank you Tim and Robbie..... Alex said to tell you HE HAD A BLAST!
Going for now... need to try to get Alex settled down for bed.. his mind is racing a million miles a minute and talking non stop! Tomorrow will be a long day.... BACK TO REALITY!
PEACE~LOVE~N~THUMBS UP!!
Lisa
ps... Don't forget the Save or Shave Friday night at the Landing! Hope to see you there!
