Tom's "You're Never Too Old" Birthday Plumfund!

Dear Friends and Family ,

You may or may not know my awesome, funny, and generous dad, Tom. He's been through some real trials in the recent past: numerous job losses, salary cuts, an intense battle with cancer and chemotherapy, and taking care of my mom through her cancer treatments, to name a few. He will never talk about these things and will probably be cross that I told you about them at all :-). At almost 67 years old, he still works full time and retirement is farther off than it should be. And through it all, he has always put his family first and does what he can to make sure we have everything we need in this world. For example, even in the midst of finding out he had cancer and beginning treatments for it, he still came and helped me move out of my apartment. He kept working so he wouldn't let his customers down. My sister got in a car accident in Wisconsin while traveling with her two cats, and one of her cats escaped and ran into the woods. For 59 days straight, every day in the cold of winter, my dad traveled 3 hours round trip to the site of her accident to find her cat again. He never gave up, and miraculously, the cat was found a few days after Christmas and brought home safe and sound. That's the kind of story that will go down in family history. That's the kind of man he is. He means the world to me, my sister, and my mom. He is our hero, our champion, a very awesome dad and wonderful husband.

Very recently, I brought up a dream idea for an overseas family trip, but he expressed to me that for him, it could be too late, that he will never have the money or time to do it, that he will soon become too old to have any more of those kinds of adventures. My heart broke. We have talked for years about taking a "family heritage" trip to the countries where our ancestors came from (England, Scotland, Ireland, Cornwall, and Germany), but we have yet to be able to go, and to think that he believes he may not ever get to go is something I refuse to accept. So this year, for his birthday, I wanted to show him that you are NEVER too old to stop believing that anything is possible. That's where you all come in :-).

This is, above and beyond being a fundraiser, just a fun way to show my dad (and my mom, too!) that I refuse to let him use the excuse that he is too old for new adventures. I want him to believe anything is possible!

I have set the goal at $1,000 in hopes of raising enough money for him to take some sort of dream trip or experience of his choice. It would be amazing to hit that goal, but even MORE amazing to go above and beyond it to help make the Family Heritage trip a reality. Will you help me? I am also looking for stories and experiences from friends, family, and (hopefully!) complete strangers about not letting life pass you by no matter what your age. So if contributing monetarily is not an option at this time, please consider sharing a story of your own about it "never being too late" to make a dream come true :-)!

Dad, I hope you know how much your family loves you and appreciates all that you have done for us. You deserve something special. Happy birthday!!!!