Day 132 – 0 miles – 1,724 total

Woke up and showered and got ready to go to the high school to speak to the students about what we are doing and why we are doing it. We were excited and nervous. I’ve done schools before but I always am careful about what I say being that children can be so easily influenced and I would hate to steer them wrong. Stick had never spoken at a school but was taking it very seriously as well. We had nothing prepared for what to say, we were just going to wing it.

The first class was about 30 students. I spoke first and then Stick spoke. Then we did question and answer. The teacher had them write their questions or comments on index cards so that they could be anonymous, allowing for honesty. It worked. The stories and questions that they asked showed that they were engaged. It was incredible. The teacher was impressed.

We had a break so the teacher took us to lunch. She gave us some tips on how to make better use of the time as that was something we had a small challenge with since the classes were so short and we have so much to say.

The next group was a lot larger. The teacher was taking advantage of us being there and she had called another class to join in. We nailed this one. It was powerful and to the point. The next group was even bigger. This was freaking awesome.

The comments and questions had us in tears. I was so honored to be doing this. I know Brittany would love it. I am glad that I am able to do it in her honor. I was able to talk about a lot of points with the story of the walk plus mine and my sister’s stories. The kids were all totally into it.

We had a small break before the last class. The teacher pulled a bunch of kids together and we switched from the small classroom into the gym. It was nuts. We had a microphone and everything. We nailed it. We did a Narcan training demo and everything. Absolutely amazing. You had to be there. It was definitely my favorite experience on this whole walk so far.

We talked to a lot of the students who came up to us after our speech and shared their appreciation with us. The stories were powerful. These kids are awesome and I love them so much for coming up to us. They had to go and we thanked the staff at the school and took photos.

We left and Stick and I were in total shock. That totally just happened. If all we ever did for the cause was this speech then it was enough. The thing is, we wouldn’t have been able to had we not taken every single step leading up to this. Every step matters. We knew that we had to keep going.

We got back to the house and hung out with family and had a great dinner. We were exhausted and high on life at the same time. What a day!