RElay for Life

Well we did the relay for life this past weekend. They require a lot of preparation and with comes stress I was getting frustrated by the minute while getting things packed into the van. But once we got there it turned out to be fun and enjoyable that stress was gone and as I looked back on it it didn't seem all that bad. They had a lot of fun activities and such. The family had cumulative of 34 miles most of them walked by the two older girls. Their was both set up with beads and necklaces once you bought the necklaces the beads were free and you picked on up for each lap walked. Once I got the necklaces the kids really didn't want to stop walking.

They did a luminary ceremony and also a lap to remember everyone who has or is fighting the horrible disease, Paula chose to make this years relay in honor of her mom who died almost 10 years ago of multiple myloma. when she was diagnosed multiple myloma wasn't treatable, but in the time we have been dealing with her cancer we have found out that they are able to treat and extend life for that particular cancer. we have been amazed by these advancements which makes these fundraisers so important to us. With each year new developments are being made and new treatments discovered.

As the night progressed on they had events and music playing that was fun. They had a locks oflove ceremony and both of the older girls had gotten enough courage up to have their hair cut(both of them would have ear length hair after) but they were both about an short of the minimum length, they were both little bummed out but really didn't stop them participating in the other things, karaoke, cake walk, etc. They had fun.

During the first part of the night we had the part of our team that was scheduled to rotate with us through the night find out they were getting foster kids the next day and needed to get things ready for that so they wouldn't be there after 10 pm which left it up to our family to walk until about 6 am when they next walkers were to get their. When I first heard this I thought oh well we will walk until 1 or so and we would all go to bed. But this decision didn't sit right, and I was feeling horrible about making that decision. And then at about 11 I remembered a story Paula had told me about a friend of hers who is a cancer survivor as well, did it last year or the year before, the weather was bad and nasty and the organizers or some of the teams wanted to up and stop the event but Paula's friend said no cancer doesn't take a break because of bad weather and neither I am I and she continued to walk the rest of the night. Once I remembered this I knew what I needed to do and so I told Paula to go lay down and get some sleep at about midnight and I would wake her up around 3 am and then I would go and lay down(I had no intention of getting her up). So her and the kids all went and laid down and then about 1 am I walked by the camp site and saw Paula, Maddy and Nicki all up because of the music and loud campers around they weren't able to get to sleep (the older girls were a sleep when I went into the tents at about 12:30 so I know they got an hour or so. I gave Paula the cell phone headphones so she could plug her music in and go to sleep which she did and the older girls and I walked the night rotating out who was walking. They really enjoyed it and both seemed to love the idea that they were doing this for Grandma Ruth.

I realized something important about my kids dedication to their mom, they were willing to do what they can to help out and even go beyond what they think they can do. They would tell me during laps they were tired so I would tell them to go and lay down and get some sleep but they refused to and just kept walking. I am proud of all my kids for participating in this without complaints. Thank you to everyone who has supported us the last three years your support to us appreciated.