Expressions

This has been an event that could never be duplicated. I think that there is a story behind this week that has not been told. When Callie first approached Stacie and I about her wish to participate on the Extreme Makeover set, we actually discourage her thinking that getting her hopes up would make it frustrating to deal with denial. As the people at Make-A-Wish began working with her on the wish they became aware of it and actually encouraged her to put it down as her first wish. As they sent it to the National office, there was uncertainty that there would be any way to grant this wish. It was a week later that Extreme Makeover, with their plans to do this house for the Starkweathers, that they called the foundation and indicated that plan. We have been told that if we had not made the wish when we did it is very likely that it would have not been able to have been done. It is amazing how things happen in life.

This morning Callie wrote her co-stars to tell them that she was home. I think it says something as we prepared to leave and Ty, Paige, Paul, and Eduardo all wanted Callie to keep in touch.

It is going to be nice to visit the Starkweather family once this all settles down and be able to get to know their wonderful family. We feel that we share with them a wonderful moment in time and it is really not about the house, but the love to serve someone else. Luckly I have Callie to help teach me that going to the finest points of the earth may bring a memory, but not a lasting impression. Most people who hear or comment about Callie's wish are not as much drawn to the celebrities or the television, but that she wanted to help someone else. As I spoke this morning with Callie about her favorite part of this wish, it was the reactions of the Starkweather family that meant the most.