Monday, May 14, 2012

Beyond The Lights 2012

This weekend was the 5th annual Beyond The Lights Celebrity Golf Challenge. Beyond The Lights was created by actors Kyle Chandler and Brad Leland to help raise awareness and funds for spinal cord injuries. The two organizations benefitting from Beyond The Lights are Gridiron Heroes and The Buoniconti Fund, which are both doing amazing things with people suffering from spinal cord injuries. This year, my son Josh and I signed up to volunteer at the golf tournament.

 After signing up, we got our schedule and job assignments about two weeks ago. Josh and I were going to be relievers on the course, which means that we relieve any volunteers for lunch, restroom breaks, what have you. We were assigned the first five holes and were pretty excited and relieved to have a set job to do.

 This year, with the event falling on Mother's Day weekend, we decided to make a weekend of it. We got a room at the Lost Pines Hyatt and Rick, Benji and Grace drove down later on Friday. Rick and I decided to go to the gala, so Friday ended up being a pretty busy day!

 Friday morning after we arrived, we had some breakfast, got our golf cart, and a map and away we went. We got lost just a little. There was no feasible way to stick just to our holes, so we ended up adopting four more holes, which actually made more sense in the long run. We got to see a Deer on the course. We got to see lots of folks that we had worked with last year. We got to talk to Kyle and Brad a good bit, but the highlight for me this year was meeting a few soldiers from Ft. Hood. These young men were detailed to sit on the course and watch the hole in ones. They were in their BDU's and looked so young and were so polite. It was a pleasure to be able to do even the littlest things to make them more comfortable. Josh and I kind of adopted them that day.

 So, basically, the whole day was spent driving around and relieving volunteers. I know it seems kind of boring, reading it here, but it was actually a really fun day and it went by pretty quickly. The weather, thankfully, turned out gorgeous. Up until Thursday night, they were calling for a 90% chance of rain with severe thunderstorms, so the sunshine and warm temps were more than welcome. The golfers all seemed in high spirits. We volunteers looked great in our navy and gold shirts. The folks in charge did a really great job making sure everyone had what they needed and it was just the most pleasant experience. Josh and I are already looking forward to next year's event.

 After we were done for the day, we went and checked into our room. I grabbed a quick shower, got changed and by the time I was dressed, Rick, Benji and Grace had arrived. Rick and I went down to the gala, had a drink before dinner and just visited with some folks. Unfortunately, I was a bit dehydrated and the drink I had went right to my head. By the time we went in for dinner, the room was spinning. The food was absolutely amazing. We shared a table with sme really nice folks. The live and silent auction both raised a good bit of money. Before I knew it, it was wrapping up and I was ready to go upstairs and just sleep.

 The next morning, we took a horse drawn carriage ride around the resort, played some horseshoes, explored and just relaxed. We had a wonderful lunch at the club house and then went swimming a bit. The resort has the most awesome pool and lazy river. It was just so nice to sit and relax. After a dinner in town, we came back, made some s'mores, watched a movie and that was it for the day.

 We came home yesterday. I'll have to say this was the most awesome Mother's Day I've had in ages. It was so nice just spending it with my family. I have the most awesome kids ever. Rick was amazing, setting it all up and driving down after a full day of work. I'm so grateful to him and so enjoyed just spending time with him this weekend. The resort itself was amazing. They went above and beyond with both Beyond The Lights and with our family's stay. The grounds are gorgeous and we got to see some really sweet animals, some horses, alpacas, and longhorns. And we made friends with this gentle giant named Hoss, who loves ice cream.

 A special shout out for Kyle Chandler and Brad Leland for concieving this event. They're both very busy actors, yet take time and energy out every year to do this event. I admire you both more than I can even say. The folks in charge, Heather, Karen, Gail, Jen, hopefully, I did'nt leave anyone out. These ladies were amazing. Everything went so smoothly and there was just this feeling of calm during the event. These ladies worked so hard during the year to create this amazing weekend and any time I saw any of these folks, they were just smiling and doing what needed done. I would have been pulling my hair out months ago during the planning stages. Kudos to y'all. It was a pleasure working for all of you. I'm going to leave y'all with a couple of video presentations that we watched during the gala, to give you an idea what this weekend is all about. So many people made this happen. My family and I are so blessed to be a part of it.
The Buoniconti Fund
 

Gridiron Heroes