02 May 2008

Relay for Life

I had to post this before going to bed, I just knew I'd forget otherwise.
A friend of ours asked us what we were doing tonight, and when we said the obvious "nothing", she invited us out past the viaduct to support her in the Relay for Life. While we had no idea what it was, we decided to go. It turned out to be a very fulfilling hour.
The Relay for Life was a relay walk for survivors of cancer. The evening began with The Star Spangled Banner, followed by The Pledge of Allegiance, and it felt so good to see every hand on heart, and hats removed, and tears in the eyes of the man standing next to me.
There were a whole bunch of teams that would keep walking all night (7pm-7am) to signify the heartache and troubles of those who were going through therapy and chemo. The sun going down was the terrible news that would change their life, and the dark, cold night was their difficulties going on, sometimes even wishing to give up; then the sun rise to symbolize the cure, the triumph of overcoming it.
Josh and I weren't prepared for the entire thing, so we had to bring Dallas home (it was getting pretty chilly) and put him to bed. But, in my head, I keep seeing those women (and a few men) walking with their heads up, determined to make one lap, then another, to prove that they were strong enough to weather the night, to prove they were willing to do anything on their way to finding a cure.
It was beautiful, and I wish I could have stayed. And next year, I'll post a picture of my participant t-shirt that I will receive for walking alongside such brave people.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

That sounds just awesome! I wonder if they do something like that here...

Karen said...

What beautiful symbolism. I can see how you would be inspired to be in it next year! Thank you for sharing a life changing moment. I love you!!

Stephanie said...

Wow, that's really neat. I'm glad you had the opportunity to be there, even if only for a while. It's especially neat for me because Jeff had cancer when he was about Zaylee's age, and survived (obviously).