Celebrate... Remember... Fight Back

Saturday night, I had the honor of walking in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. It was supposed to be on May 1st but got postponed due to rain. Mother Nature did not want to cooperate Saturday either, so it was moved into the church gym. It was a wonderful event with many touching and emotional moments.

The Relay began with the cancer survivors in attendance being introduced and telling how long that had been a survivor. Then they took a lap around the gym wearing their purple survivor shirts. As the Mariah Carey song "Hero" played in the background, the caretakers and families of the survivors joined their loved ones for another lap. Needless to say, there wasn't a dry eye in the place.

The night was full of games, food, music, laughs, MANY laps around the track and tears. The walk goes from 6 pm to 6 am symbolizing that cancer never sleeps. Throughout the night, people are continuously walking the track until the sun comes up signifying a new day to begin the fight for a cure again.

Trace loved being there. The child ran more laps around that track than I could count and was thoroughly exhausted after. I can hear him now saying, "cuse me" to everyone as he plowed past them, weaving in and out of traffic. Since he is only 3 feet tall, a lot of people got a lot of bottom pats as he jockeyed for position squeezing between the crowd. He doesn't really operate along the lines of "stay in your spot and pace yourself"... he was full out, full time! He finally crashed in Nana's lap and was mesmerized by the band playing. That was by far the stillest he sat all night long. Ahhh, if only I had a third of his energy!!
The team we walked for was call "Team TP" which stands for Trivial Pursuit. It was named in honor of my mom and dad's Trivial Pursuit group with the Golden Girls and their husbands. This group has been going on for 20+ years. Last September, they lost one of their members, Jim Rogers, to lung cancer. This is my mom and my Aunt Gail (2 out of the 4 Golden Girls) next to the sign. Bonnie, Jim's wife, would have been so proud to hear Andi's beautiful words about him during the Luminary ceremony. He was very loved and very missed.
Trace and Abram had a big time sitting in the floor picnic style eating hotdogs, cheetos, and cupcakes... every little boys dream dinner!
Baby Lucas made it to the Relay. I can't wait to see him next year, running laps with the big boys! Wow, they are so little for such a short time. This year he was perfectly content to sit in his Papaw's lap and watch.
Keith, Abram, Jimmy and Trace meeting the chick-fil-a cow. You notice, Trace never takes his eyes off that thing... and he never let go of his Daddy!
Papaw dancing with Lucas.
Good ole family shot. That is Andi in the background beside me. She was our team leader and did such a wonderful job. She has been in charge of the Luminary Ceremony for 5 years and last year alone lost 3 people she loved to cancer. She works so hard to try and end this terrible disease.
This is Josh and Andi's little girl Addison...she is a such a doll! I LOVE those pigtails!!!
At 10 o'clock that night, they had a Luminary Ceremony. Bags are placed along the perimeter of the walking track and the lights are turned out. People purchase these bags in honor or in memory of someone with cancer. Normally, it is outside on the bleachers and the bags spell out "hope" or "cure" with candles in them. This year, they had to use glow sticks because it was indoors.

Everyone stands behind a bag and as the names are read aloud, you popped the glow stick and dropped it in the bag. When all the names had been read and all the bags were "lit" a bagpiper came walking through the gym playing Amazing Grace. It gives me chills just thinking about it now. It was so moving.

I was standing next to a woman who lost her 30 year old daughter less than a year ago. She was her only child and her best friend. I can't even imagine the heartbreak and emotion she was feeling standing in front of a white glowing bag that was placed there in memory of her daughter. That made it very real.

This picture doesn't do the beauty of this ceremony justice. The only lights you could see were the rainbow glows of the bags and the only sound you could hear was the song of the bagpipes. As I said at the beginning of this post, I was honored to get to be apart of this amazing night and will continue to do so until a cure is found. Thank you again, everyone who donated and help me reach my goal... it meant more to me than you know!