Friday, June 11, 2021

"I LOVE TO RIDE MY BIKE"

                

I never owned a bicycle as a child and I don't even recall riding one as an adult. Here in Austin you see bike riders everywhere all of the time. It wasn't surprising to me when my daughter's son Tanner started intense training for an upcoming ride, sometimes riding his bicycle 40 miles a day.

Tanner has a knack for participating in worthy causes. Last year he and a good friend held a "standathon" wherein they both stood for 24-hours while reading from pertinent books on climate change and being viewed online to raise money for "Extinction Rebellion ATX", an international nonviolent movement seeking real solutions to climate change. I wrote about their success at this endeavor on my personal blog. Standing for Change

This past weekend, Tanner and 21 other like-minded bike riders left on a 4,000 mile ride in the lower 48 states to raise money for cancer research. They are members of an organization called "Texas 4000". Started in 2004, "Texas 4000’s mission is to cultivate student leaders and engage communities in the fight against cancer." Information about the riders, their route, and why each has chosen to raise money for cancer is located on their website Texas 4000. There is also a good map of the stops they will make along the way. He is on the Sierra route.

Branch Tanner Archer is the grandson of mine and BOB BURTON. If you happened to see 22 bicycle riders touring through Ballinger last Monday, that was his group. Tanner had visited me when I lived in Ballinger for a few years before our 50th Class Reunion. He sent the following photo to let me know they went through there!


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JUNE HASH CURRY sent me the following photo of her newest great-grandchild. I am jealous that she and NANCY THOMPSON BAKER both are gifted with great-grandchildren! Although I am blessed with seven grandchildren, five of them are still attending college. This has to be the cutest photo of a toddler I've seen!



This is Miss Emery Jayne Birdwoman Curry. She was born into the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe in Oklahoma. JUNE's grandson Braden and his wife Kennedy Curry officially adopted her on June 8th. Birdwoman is the name she was born with and they want her to remember it as well as her culture. JUNE told me: "My grandson and his young wife have been taking foster children since last year, and she was the fifth one to come into their home when she was five months of age. The other four foster children have since gone to other homes or returned to their parents, but they simply couldn’t think of letting her go and began adoption proceedings. The Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribe finally accepted their petitions, signed off on the adoption, and yesterday she legally became ours to keep. And I think our whole family would have been to bury if we had lost this precious baby since she had already become a much loved member of our clan." I can certainly see why. And I commend this sweet couple for their work with foster children!

The happy new family!

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That's it for this time. Are there any "newbies" or happenings in your life or those you love? Send me the good stuff. I love to hear from you. 

Peace and Love,
Marilyn

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