Seattle Race for the Cure

Kelsey and I got up early today and, even though this is our day to sleep in, we took the ferry at 7:05am. We walked to the Seattle Center (with a quick detour at Starbucks) and participated in The Seattle Race for the Cure.

It was a bittersweet  event for me. I have walked, or run, the Portland race 10 or 12 times over the years. I have been there to support women I knew, and those I did not, all who have faced breast cancer. I remember walking the Sunday after 9/11.  The race was almost cancelled, but it went on because people needed to come together, to cry and to support something that still mattered during that time of sadness and confusion. Once, when Kelsey was in high school, I ran the 5K and then walked it again with Kelsey and my quilting friends. Today we didn't run and could only do the 1K walk.

But only being up for a 1K walk was not what made it bittersweet. What was hard was now being part of the survivor's club, just 4 weeks after my mastectomy. The emotion of breast cancer was still too fresh, the wounds were still too raw.  I do not yet feel like a survivor.  I have too many steps for my recovery before I will really be able to claim survivorship. Still, I wore the shirt and received my medal. Wearing the survivor colors earned me high fives, several hugs and a blanket that will help me through chemo. It was an amazing event and, even with all the emotion, I am glad I was there.

 The race itself is a celebration of all women who face this disease. It is amazing to see so many women coming together with strength, courage and sisterhood. It is a party for those who have survived, complete with crazy costumes, noisemakers, party hats. And it's a memorial to all the women who have not, with their pictures, their stories, and many signs carried by those who loved them. Everyone there knows far too many of both. So today we came together and we laugh and we weep, we cheer and we mourn. We share the moment as sisters, husbands, children, brothers.

And then, when we are done, we hug, we support each other, and we wish for a cure. We all wish that no one else would ever need to face cancer, of any kind, ever, ever again.