I was able to participate with my family in Relay For Life this weekend. For those of you who have no idea what Relay For Life is, the website says it best so here you go....
What is Relay For Life?
The American Cancer Society Relay For Life is a life-changing event that gives everyone in communities across the globe a chance to celebrate the lives of people who have battled cancer, remember loved ones lost, and fight back against the disease. At Relay, teams of people camp out at a local high school, park, or fairground and take turns walking or running around a track or path. Each team is asked to have a representative on the track at all times during the event. Because cancer never sleeps, Relays are overnight events up to 24 hours in length.
Our team name was the pink ladies and we had sweet pink tie dye shirts that Alyse made for us to wear. Thanks Buggie!! This year was just a trial run for my family and I. My mom wanted to do this for quite sometime and my sister signed us up. We had no idea what to expect, but I am so glad I was able to be apart of it all. We were hoping to get my mom's sisters involved with us but they weren't able to make it. We ended up with a smaller group of us then planned but we made it work. It really was a life changing event for me and can't wait to do it next year.
the fam setting up our camp and waiting to start walking
We started out on Friday by packing up and heading to the blue sox baseball diamond in Smithfield. We started at noon by taking the first lap as a team. My mom, Cambria, Stella, the boys and myself all took turns walking. Bryant was a even a good sport and wore pink the whole time he was there :)
Stella even wanted to walk it with us (she only lasted a few minutes)
In the afternoon they announced that there was a storm that was coming our way. We hurried and put things in the tent and took down the quick shade so it wouldn't blow away.
Later in the evening Dale brought us dinner and my dad came and they helped walk some laps. It was really cool when they had all the surviors and the caregivers wear certain shirts and had them do a lap together. Its amazing how many people have battled cancer from all different ages.
A bunch of the teams had fundraisers to help make money for fighting against cancer. There was one team that had a photo booth. Cambria, Dale, and I couldn't pass up dressing up with props and taking a few pictures.
Alyse came later to help with walking during the night. It was fun to walk with my sisters and laugh at the band playing and all the people singing karaoke. Me and Cam went to bed around 2 while Alyse and my mom walked. I started walking again at 5:40 and it was freezing and I was super stiff.
At the end of the relay our team walked at least 83 miles all together and we were feeling every single one of those miles. We all got sunburned and were very tired, but it all made it worth it. I couldn't help but to think about this amazing women the whole time and what she had gone through.....
My Grandma Ward was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer in August of 2004. It had spread through out a lot of her body, mostly through her skull, bones and liver.I can't imagine the pain she felt every single day and me being tired, sore and sunburnt was nothing to compaired to her pain. She was so strong, and always had a smile on even during her chemo. She was always laughing and never let us know how much pain she was in. Through it all she even kept a gratitude journal, were she was grateful for the small things she was able to accomplish, even if that was just getting out of bed for the day.
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She died on April 22, 2005 and still to this day I miss her all the time. We would go to Malad a lot during the summers and on a lot of sundays. We would watch a movie and she would always make us root beer floats and popcorn balls. She stayed with us 2 days a week for the last couple of years while she worked at the temple. I will always miss her hiding her romance novels (that none of us could read cause they aren't good for kids), I will always miss her laugh, I will always miss her cross word puzzles she would do every morning,
I will always miss the curlers she always had in her hair,
I will miss her always standing by the stove always making something,
I will always miss the hours she spent making quilts, and her tongue sticking out when she would make them (I wish the picture was more clear so you could see the tongue sticking out)
I will always miss the times we got together for reunions,
I will always miss her being part of all the pictures we take,
Most of all I will always miss just sitting down and talking with her about anything. Love ya Grandma :)
Thanks family for such a great time this weekend.
