Today, I was honored to be a part of two celebrations of life. Definitely an upper on so many levels!!
This morning a group of us participated in the annual "Race for the Cure". This 5K raises money for and awareness of breast cancer detection and treatment. It was the fifth year of "Rose's Buds", a team I had started to honor one of our co-workers.
RW is a night custodian at my former school. She and I become close friends due to her schedule and my long hours. We sat together as she told me about losing her mother to breast cancer, then we prayed together as she herself was diagnosed with the disease, and finally we cried together as her sister fought, then sadly lost, the battle with breast cancer. RW is a strong woman, dealing with her sister's illness as she quietly braved her own treatments. Her strength and determination inspired me to create the team.
It was a feeling of overwhelming joy to watch her pose for the survivors' picture again, to walk the survivors' walk again, and to hear the cheers of "Rose's Buds" again. I hope that RW knows how much we love her and what an inspiration she is to many people, especially me!
After the race, I had another dubious honor: to keep my buddy KSBJ occupied until it was time for her SURPRISE BIRTHDAY PARTY!! Boy, was I stressed!! I kept calm and cool til we finally got to her house and heard, "Surprise!". Then I just wanted to pee in my pants! I was so glad we pulled it off. Like I've said in prior blog posts, this woman means a great deal to many people. She deserves to have her life celebrated by the people who love her.
Maybe it was coincidence that as we were killing time at Barnes and Noble, she bumped into a former student. This grown up man, articulate, polite and kind, recognized her as his former elementary school PE teacher. He went on to say how much he loved her class and that he really had a feeling that she cared about her students. That's truly KSBJ's modus operandi: to care. What a way to celebrate a life, to know that people cared that she cared. She, and thousands of other teachers, need to hear that every now and then.
Well, lives have been celebrated, miles walked, food and drink consumed, and hugs given. I could not have asked for a better day!
Until next time...live away!!
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