Relay for Life

On May 2-3, I participated in our high school's Relay for Life to support cancer research. I was asked by several of my band students to be their team's chaperone. It was a lot of fun (we were "Team Pirates," in case you were wondering why they're all dressed that way!) We stayed up all night walking around the track at the high school--well, we almost made it anyway! I slept from about 2:00-4:00 a.m., and when I woke up the track was pretty much empty. It was also fun because Ian and Courtnie stayed with me. It was nice to have them be a part of something so important to me.

It was also an emotional night for me, as they had a "survivor lap" for those who had battled cancer and won. You could also buy luminarias in memory of those who had lost the battle. Cancer is such a personal issue for me, as I'm a cancer survivor, but have also lost two very important people in my life to cancer. My mom's mom passed away while I was fighting cancer myself and Gordon's dad passed away about 10 1/2 years ago. At about 10:00 p.m., we all did a couple of laps around the track while they read the names and messages about the people who had died. There were luminaries around the track and in the stands they spelled the word "HOPE" with the luminaries. It was very cool, and very touching.

As I'm still dealing with the after-effects of my cancer treatments, I hope for the day that we don't have to worry about cancer. I know it may not come until MUCH later, but until that day comes, we can all hope.