Thursday, September 12, 2013

Relay

It's been two years since the last Relay for Life. A lot can happen in two years.  I bet you wouldn't even recognize my special friend today.  Even though I was more prepared this year, knowing what to expect of this event, I was once again overwhelmed with emotion as I watched the survivors walk the victory lap.



As the sea of yellow-shirted survivors walked around the track I thought about how I had come out to support my special young friend and her purple team but in all reality it didn't really matter which team I was walking for.  In a community this size, your friends are your colleagues and your colleagues are your family and you've somehow crossed paths with everyone of these survivors for one reason or another.  And watching these survivors causes endless tears.  Tears of hope for the living, tears sadness for the ones who lost the fight and tears of heartache for the loved ones who must go on without them.



I thought Callie had lots of questions about Cancer two years ago...let's just say six year olds are even more inquisitive.  She listened intently to the stories of survival and the stories of loss and I could literally hear the wheels turning in her head as she pieced together the fact that she knew these people too.  "You mean Abby's dad had cancer?  And Drayden's mom?  And Mrs. Schwartz?"  And not only was she realizing that people she knows have had the bug she now wanted to learn where in their body they had it and how did they get it.  Legitimate questions I know but this mama had a hard time finding the right words to satisfy her curious mind.



We lit some candles in honour of our survivors and in memory of the ones we've lost.  When we got home from the Relay Callie said, "Whenever I learn about a new thing like Cancer or whatever I always get worried that I'm going to get it."  Once again, this mama didn't know what to say.  Let's just keep fighting the fight so that someday I can tell her not to worry and that we've got this Cancer thing beat.

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