Countdown to Glory: 10 to go

THE COUNTDOWN CONTINUES. 10 DAYS TO GLORY!!!

Before I get into the number 10, I need to do some equal time and access. Yesterday I wrote about my daughter's birthday. Well, in our family we knock out birthdays in one full swoop. And today we got to celebrate my son Finn's first birthday. First birthdays are great, because a one year old cannot be disappointed. It's impossible. Finn thinks windows are unbelievably interesting. Ceiling fans blow his mind. Today he had a permanent grin on his face. Of course, today isn't much different from most days. He's in a phase where he's learning constantly. And he loves it. He's a brilliant, curious, vocal kid. And I'm incredibly proud of him. Back on day 27, I wrote about how lupus tried to hurt my wife and kids. Here's how: my wife suffered a particularly virulent flare while pregnant with Finn. Because we had some knowledge of how lupus had affected Kerry's pregnancy with Claire, the docs tried a more proactive approach in managing the disease. Kerry was prescribed prednisone, and while that helped with the flare, it might've slowed down Finn's development. Our kids are early arrivals, so when Finn got here 1 year ago today, he wasn't entirely ready to go. He spent a few days in the NICU. We were lucky and blessed. He responded quickly and now he's flourished. But those couple of days were pretty miserable. I cannot even imagine the experience for families who spend weeks and months watching their children in the NICU.

And it does hit home to me why the work of the Arthritis Foundation is so important: systemic, rheumatic diseases can inflict a lot of pain upon people, even the littlest, most vulnerable ones. I'm so proud of my little boy for how far he's come in the last year. And I know that there are a lot of kids that come into the world under tough circumstances. I truly hope and believe that the Arthritis Foundation's support

for research will one day lead to cures for arthritis-related diseases, and hopefully there will be significantly fewer kids facing challenges.

So about 10...

Ten can be perfection, like Nadia Comenici in Munich or Mary Lou Retton in LA.

Ten can be eternal genius, like Pele, Maradona and now Messi.

Ten can be nostalgic greatness, like Pearl Jam's "Ten".

Ten can be a standard, like the ten commandments, metric system or the decimal system.

And ten can represent initial greatness now institutionalized. Example: David Letterman's Top Ten list. Back in the day, the Top Ten list was one of the few subversive, ridiculous, clever outlets for comedy. Today, by the time the Top Ten list deals with a subject, the internet has made it passe.

Ten can be a singularly incredible performance, such as Vince Young's incredible showing in the 2006 Rose Bowl.

Ten can be infamous, like the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list. The current list features Victor Manuel Gerena, who was added to the list more than 25 years ago, before Mary Lou Retton got her 10s at the LA Olympics. If I've done the math correctly, a month or so ago, Gerena became the fugitive with the longest term on the list, passing Donald Eugene Webb. About Webb, there's an odd piece of trivia. Webb was removed from the list after 25 years and 10 months without ever being apprehended, and he was replaced by Shauntay Henderson - who wasn't even born when Webb went on the list. Ironically, Henderson was apprehended on her first day on the list (second shortest term in history).

I could go on for a while here. Probably best just to say that ten is a lot of things. But there is one way we know ten is not as great a number as 33: The Big Ten Conference. Plodding football, arrogant administrators and the inability to COUNT. Jim Delaney, you are not welcome on TEAM 33.

Recap: Happy Birthday, Finn. You rule. 10 can be good but it tries to do too much and ends up weak. 33 is better.

Join TEAM 33. If you can join us for the Walk at Atlantic Station on May 22, please do! Bring your friends and family, including dogs. If you can't come, you can still join TEAM 33 or contribute in any way you'd like. AND YOU CAN SPREAD THE WORD! For more information on joining TEAM 33 or contributing, please follow the link below:

http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=312420&u=312420-211716341

Join TEAM 33. Sign up. Spread the word to your friends and family. Join us at the walk. Give a few bucks for a great cause. Wear a gold swimsuit, braid your hair in cornrows, and attempt to seduce Dudley Moore with Ravel's Bolero playing . And we'll have cake.

JOIN TEAM 33!

If you have any questions about how incredibly awesome TEAM 33 is, give me a call or send me an email. Thanks again!