My Bag is Packed

Race for the Cure

If you have never experienced a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure then you should really walk/run at least one. It is a more than a moving experience to see the waves of people moving down the street all united to see breast cancer cured.

For the second year I took my 77 year old mother, who is a three year survivor, to participate in the race and all the surrounding survivor events held in Little Rock. We started out on Friday evening at pasta party with great pasta, Caesar salad, bread (all from Macaroni Grill), beverages, and Blue Bunny ice cream. A band was playing and people were having a wonderful time. Mother was clapping her hands and tapping her feet to such songs as "Celebrate Good Time" and "RESPECT."

This morning we headed for the Survivor Breakfast and Photo. What a moving experience to see all those pink shirts and caps all celebrating their victory over cancer. Then the pink shirts mixed in with the white Race for the Cure, and all the other colors of the 700 individual teams that participated. A total of 40,000 people walked/raced today. It was amazing.

Maybe it was because I have had an incredibly busy two week, or maybe it was because I haven't slept well in the last several nights, but I was very, very emotional. I would just about get it all under control and then I would read the pink papers that many had attached to the race numbers on their backs. Those pink papers were either in memory or in celebration of women who had battled breast cancer. The first one that I saw read, "In Memory of...Too many!" and that brought immediate tears to my eyes. The ones with just individual names (like the one on my back) did not touch my emotions as much as the ones who said, "In Memory of...My Meemaw" or "...My best Friend, Beth." I really teared up on the one I read at the Survivors Luncheon that read, "In Celebration of...My Precious Mother." It is amazing what putting a face and name on a cancer warrior does to one's emotions.

posted by BW @ 6:42 PM