Relay for Life

About a month ago, I went down to Columbia River High School at 11:00 pm to get ready for my late-night time slot. As part of Relay For Life, each team had to have at least one of their team members on the school track for every minute of the 24-hour relay. For some reason, I enjoy the late shift. I get to see the tearful luminary walk, which starts close to midnight.

They normally dim the lights, give a quiet speech on the main stage, a sad song plays and everybody starts the slow march around the track, looking down upon brightly-lit decorated bags which line the track inside and out. Up in the dark bleachers, luminaries are lined up in such a way that the word “HOPE” glows down upon us slowly moving around the track. There are luminaries which read “In honor of:” and then the name of a person who has experienced cancer and “With love from:” which then marks the name of the contributor who donated money to have a candle lit in this precious paper bag. The other bags are ones for those loved ones who have gone on. Those ones read “In memory of:” with the name of their contributor. This year, I decided to include a little visual memory for one of my luminaries.

The photo is of me and my father and was taken on a family reunion Tahoe camping adventure. He bought those hats specifically for our trip. I was happy to drag myself around the track at 3:30 am.

Please feel free to look for a “relay for life” in your area and next year, you can also experience this amazing event. I’m not sure how much our team raised but I know it’s close to $10,000 and all benefits go to the American Cancer Society . Call me an optomist but there has to be a cure someday!!!