Thoughts on Relay For Life Boone County

First, a quick announcement, then I will get back to the blogging...

FRIDAY FREESTYLE WILL be posted later today! Real Life Intervened yesterday, so, I didn't get it done - but I WILL get it up today after 1:00 PM.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled blog posting...

Yesterday evening, I participated in the annual Relay For Life out in Union, which is a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

My thoughts on this are a few.

1) The survivors...they are SO inspirational! Each one has a story. Some of them have survived 20+ years after their various cancer experiences! Some of them have even beat multiple types of cancer, and a few are even fighting second bouts with it.

2) The luminaria. That, right there, was a reminder of everybody's reason for participating. They had luminarias lining much of the track's inside (save one, 10 foot area, which had been flooded in storms Thursday night). Each luminaria had the names of a cancer survivor, cancer patient, or someone who died from cancer, written on the outside. During a break in the activities, between 10 PM and 10:35 PM, everybody lined the track and lit the luminaria in their respective locations. Then the names were read, one by one, in groups of either "In Honor of" or "In Memory Of".

3) The PEOPLE. There had to be 1,000+ people participating! Everybody knew someone who had died from cancer, beaten it, or is currently fighting it.

4) I felt privileged to be a part of something that does SO much good for the ACS. There were also folks from WGRR 103.5/Cincinnati, WUBE 105.1/Cincinnati, and (my understanding anyway) WNKR 106.7/Dry Ridge. There were also fun activities. Unfortunately, my body gave out - and so my plans to stay there until 3 AM had to be scrapped - but I still walked 7 laps around the track!

It was a great night...and to those of my friends who were out there with me, and who might read this, I say THANK YOU for letting me be a part of last night's efforts!

Courage + Belief = LIFE