fear...confirmed...

1. Conquer a fear.

See that building?  That's Silo Point.  It's a beautiful luxury condominium building in Baltimore City.  I know it's beautiful because I get to drive past it EVERY.SINGLE.DAY on my way to and from work.  Every day I get to see this beautiful building.  And on days when I'm really lucky, there is traffic going through the tunnel.  So I get to sit on 95.  With Silo Point sitting next to me.  Just sitting there in all of its 23 stories of magnificence.

Why do I have this new obsession with Silo Point?

Because today I confirmed that in less than two months I'm going to be rappelling down the side of this building.

I've never rappelled off anything in my life.  I've never sky-dived, never bungee jumped, never never never.  Gravity is not something that I mess around with.  Seriously. 

Last year when my friend Rene (the fundraising mastermind behind all of this) first told me of this event, I thought to myself, "crazy people do stuff like that."  I never in a million years even CONSIDERED doing it.  But when I created this 30 Before 30 list and challenged myself to conquer a fear, I really wanted to do something good.  Sure, I could've riden a scary crazy roller coaster but I wanted something BIGGER. 

So here we are.  In just 61 days I'm going to be bound by ropes walking down 23 stories.  TWENTY THREE STORIES.  That's 310 feet high.  The 22nd tallest building in Baltimore City.

23 stories.

Deep breaths.

The purpose of this insane event is to raise money for Gaudenzia's Women and Children's Center.  Gaudenzia is an addiction treatment and recovery services non-profit organization.  They offer a variety of services in the Maryland/Pennsylvania area.  This is their website: http://www.gaudenzia.org/  I've worked in the behavorial health field for almost 7 years now, and I also lost my Aunt Gabby (Sadira Gabrielle's namesake) 15 years ago to substance abuse.  For lots of reasons, organizations like Gaudenzia are near and dear to my heart.

I also need to raise a minimum of $500 to rappel.  My personal goal is to break $1000.  My mom (who is awesome) helped kick start my fundraising efforts with a $250 donation. (THANKS MOM!!!!!!)  She then followed it up by saying, "I cannot believe you are nutty enough to do this."  She's got a lot of faith in me. :)

If you can donate $20, $10, even $5 please do and help me reach my goal for this very worthwhile cause.  I really hate asking for money, but when it comes to helping moms kick their addictions and learn to live sober lives with their children?  Well, that's a cause I can ask for.

My personal fundraising website is: http://overtheedge.dojiggy.com/nasreneisscared and you can contribute directly on the page.  All donations are also tax deductible!!