Relay for Life Reflections

After Emily's dance recital, we headed over to the Relay for Life. This was our first Relay For Life. In the past, we had walked in the survivor lap with my Mom with a neighbor, but never participated in one at this level. Our church created a team and a bunch of families, all with young kids, decided to participate. The event itself has fund raising leading up to it, but also involves having events and fundraisers at the Relay itself to raise additional money.


At our tent (until the 60mph storm winds blew it down, followed by a beautiful rainbow) had a bunch of games that kids could play. the special part about this were the prizes. One of the girls from my youth group and church died of cancer about 7 years ago. Her name was Victoria and she loved beanie babies. She had a bazillion of them. Her parents donated these beanie babies to us as prizes for the games. We had a cool note with them that people could read the story of Victoria and the story of these beanie baby prizes.

The event basically consists of walking and talking. We walked around a 1/4 mile track a bunch of times, with one or more team members moving around all the time. They have special laps throughout the day and try and make it fun with a band, a DJ and music. We learned later (but not until about 4:30am) that many teams treat the whole "someone walking at all times" deal very loosely. As rookies, we didn't know this and had someone walking all the time, like suckers.

As I would walk and think, the thought crossed my mind as to "why". Why was I walking around a track to stop cancer? In the beginning, it just seemed like something I could do to honor hte memory of my Mom. Being there with her before she died and seeing her watch the survivor lap was a big deal and meant a lot to me, so I figured Relay for Life was a good place to start.

Come on: if you think about it for too long, walking in circles seems a bit silly. Hundreds of people were walking, hoping to do something about a disease with a ridiculous impact on people's lives. As Nate and I walked, we talked about what he and I could really do to cure cancer. We aren't researchers, we aren't doctors, so we figured that about all he and I could do would be to raise awareness, raise money and love people with the disease. My son is smart. (He gets it from Cathie). But still, walking seemed kind of insignificant for me against such a huge problem. Cancer is so big sometimes, it makes me feel small and helpless against it - just like poverty, famine and AIDS.


At about 9:30, they had the luminary lap. All around the 1/4 mile track were paper-bag luminaries, each dedicated to a cancer survivor or in memory of someone who lost the battle. They killed all the lights on the track as the candles glowed, gave some time for reflection. They ended the time with a lap of silence, led by a bagpiper playing Amazing Grace, the same song the bagpiper played at my Mom's funeral. As I walked around the track thinking of my Mom's battle with cancer, my Dad's battle with cancer, the hugeness of the impact of this disease, and my Mom's death, I lost it and started sobbing. It was in that moment I think I really got why I was walking around a track. In the bigness of cancer, I could either be powerless against it, or I could walk, doing something is better than nothing. In my walking, somehow I figured out what I was walking and why I would do it again.

Emily fell asleep while on my shoulders. Unfortunately, I didn't realize this as I tried to take her down and let her walk. Ooops. We hung out until about 11pm with the kids and then I headed home and put them to bed. Cathie and I swapped places at about 1:30am and I walked for another few hours until I was sore. During the walking, I talked to other people from my team. People I've known, but got to know a lot better through the special bond of walking around a track at 4 in the morning. We talked about anything and everything. We drank coffee, ate junk food and energy drinks and laughed a lot. We would periodically change directions, and try and convince the other walkers that our way was the best. (I was able to convince almost no one that walking clock-wise around the track was actually downhill all the way). We would periodically stop by people's camp fires and talk and share food and stories, but mostly we walked and talked and laughed. At one point, about 3 in the morning, one college kid was carrying another guy on his shoulders. I offered them $1 to do a complete 1/4 mile lap carrying him on his shoulders, which they did, twice. Better them, than me. In the wee hours we came up with a bunch of creative and amusing (at least to me) ideas for "themed" laps:

• The Taser Lap - where every team that does not have representation on track has to select one person to be zapped with a taser gun.
• The iPod Lap - Everyone wears an iPod and sings their song loudly as they walk around the track, oblivious to how bad they sound.
  

I'm whooped today. I slept about three hours and I've got a long day ahead of me, including a youth group meeting at 6. Over the course of my time there, I'm guessing I walked about 80 to 100 laps.

If you'd like to make a donation online, visit my Relay For Life Personal page.