Yesterday I was part of a great event that was held at our elementary school. It was the Relay For Life, 24 hour cancer walk. This is the second year that it was held at our school, but I unfortunately didn't participate last year. I made sure I was on the team this year though! This event raises money to help cancer patients. It honors survivors with their own lap during opening ceremony, and has a luminary ceremony at night to honor those survivors as well as the loved ones lost.
This event is very close to my heart as I lost my Mom to cancer at the age of 54. She had breast cancer twice and survived, then came down with brain cancer, which ultimately took her life. I was walking in her honor!
The Relay started at 9am on Saturday and my good friend Kimberly, who along with her husband, are cancer survivors, took on the first laps. The rest of our team, Moulton Hawks, showed up at different times throughout the day. My youngest son and I arrived at 2:30pm and stayed until closing ceremonies at 9am Sunday. My husband and oldest son arrived in the early evening and stayed until after the luminary ceremony. It felt really good to have my family there to support me. I also loved being surrounded by my wonderful friends!
The most touching thing to me was the luminary ceremony. People decorated bags to celebrate survivors or to honor loved ones lost. Those bags were then placed all around the field and lit with a flame-less candle. Once the sun went down, the field had a beautiful glow framing it. At 9pm, a speech was given, then all in attendance were given a candle. We all walked the field, in silence, reading the bags. It was very emotional.
Many teams came and went throughout the day/night, but there were a few that decided to camp out overnight. We were one of them. We had our little campsite set up and it was a neat experience "sleeping" at the school. I say "sleeping" because unless you were a child, we didn't get much sleep. My two friends walked all night, with the exception of about 2hrs. I stayed up until just before 2am and then tried to sleep. I don't know about most people, but I LOVE my bed! I climb into it every night and within 10 minutes or so, it has me visiting la-la land. Sleeping on an air mattress, in a sleeping bag, in a tent, isn't my ideal thing. I tossed and turned, while next to me, my son was snoring! Oh, to be a kid! I eventually dosed off because next thing I know, it's light outside. It was 5:30a.m. and I figured I would get up and do more laps.
At the end of the Relay, my two friends and I, who had camped out overnight, had walked over 125,000 steps, which is over 50 miles. Kim and Stacey did the majority of that walking, but the 11.5 miles that I logged has me feeling it today. That is o.k. though, because it was all for a good cause!
My little trooper and I
Cheryl Burke Dance Academy came down and gave free dance lessons
Kim and her husband Jason
My husband and son doing their laps
The luminary bag I made for my Mom
My guys having fun on their lap
A video I made of the luminary ceremony
